TY - BOOK ID - 2639367 TI - A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem PY - 2013 SN - 0691012407 0691012415 1400849209 9781400849208 9780691012414 9780691012407 PB - Princeton, NJ DB - UniCat KW - Conclusie KW - Conclusion KW - Gevolgtrekking KW - Inference KW - Inference (Logic) KW - Political statistics KW - #SBIB:303H10 KW - #SBIB:003.IO KW - Ampliative induction KW - Induction, Ampliative KW - Reasoning KW - Political science KW - Statistics KW - Methoden en technieken: algemene handboeken en reeksen KW - Statistical methods KW - Inference. KW - Political statistics. KW - Political science - Statistical methods. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:2639367 AB - This book provides a solution to the ecological inference problem, which has plagued users of statistical methods for over seventy-five years: How can researchers reliably infer individual-level behavior from aggregate (ecological) data? In political science, this question arises when individual-level surveys are unavailable (for instance, local or comparative electoral politics), unreliable (racial politics), insufficient (political geography), or infeasible (political history). This ecological inference problem also confronts researchers in numerous areas of major significance in public policy, and other academic disciplines, ranging from epidemiology and marketing to sociology and quantitative history. Although many have attempted to make such cross-level inferences, scholars agree that all existing methods yield very inaccurate conclusions about the world. In this volume, Gary King lays out a unique--and reliable--solution to this venerable problem. King begins with a qualitative overview, readable even by those without a statistical background. He then unifies the apparently diverse findings in the methodological literature, so that only one aggregation problem remains to be solved. He then presents his solution, as well as empirical evaluations of the solution that include over 16,000 comparisons of his estimates from real aggregate data to the known individual-level answer. The method works in practice. King's solution to the ecological inference problem will enable empirical researchers to investigate substantive questions that have heretofore proved unanswerable, and move forward fields of inquiry in which progress has been stifled by this problem. ER -