Unit of Analysis in activity theory
If activity theory moves away from the individual as a unit of analysis, how does one make a group, instead as the unit of analysis?
This post may seem like it´s coming out of left field…as I have not posted on academic matters recently. I am working on a presentation of the theoretical grounding of my dissertation research. I designed the study with activity theory in mind, and I intend to analyze the data in terms of activity…and to do so, I have artifacts that were generated throughout the group collaboration process.
On one level, I am confident about the unit of analysis—it is a pair of an adult mentor and student who worked collaboratively throughout the three months of the study. They clearly collaborated together on their projects.
However, to analye the larger group of adult mentors that also met as a group, with less clearly defined GROUP goals and objectives…how can I analyze the group as the unit of analysis, without analyzing each individual in the context of the group? Is this the only way to do this? And if so, can activity theory ever be applicable outside of very small group dynamics?
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