Social area analysis in program evaluation and planning

This article defines social area analysis and identifies its conceptual roots and principal applications. By reviewing the uses of demographic data among several disciplines, the utility of social area analysis is assessed. The authors cite and briefly review the seminal and most recent contributions to the field. Several types of ecological fallacies and other problematic facets of social area analysis are considered, as well as specific issues in the derivation of statistical inferences from cross-level and same-level areal and case data.