Unit of analysis

A unit of analysis is like a puzzle piece that we use to understand something. Let's say we want to learn about how kids learn to read. We can't just look at one kid and say "that's how all kids learn to read" because each kid is different. Instead, we need to look at lots of kids all together. In this case, each individual kid is the unit of analysis.

So, just like a puzzle where each piece is important to make the picture complete, we need to look at each individual kid to understand how kids learn to read overall. This is the unit of analysis!