Due to the ecological fallacy, individual level effects will likely be under- or overestimated when using neighbourhood population characteristics to predict an individual's behaviour [ 25].
Results obtained solely from aggregate (ecologi) data should not be used for making assumptions about the nature of an association at the individual level (ecologic fallacy).
The most important limitation is the ecological study design, which does not allow either firm conclusions to be drawn in terms of relationships on an individual level (ecological fallacy) or on causal relationships.
Although area measures of socioeconomic status have previously been criticised as 'ecological fallacy' – individuals are allocated a status based on their residence – this may in fact help with an explanation.
This paper reports on a laboratory experiment aiming at documenting the sunk-cost fallacy in individual decision-making and at identifying the role of the cognitive ability in its manifestation.
In contrast to the aforementioned study in Australia 13, our use of individual‐level data avoids ecological fallacy, where individual behaviour is inferred from aggregated data 32.
Geographic studies have traditionally been thought of as pure ecologic studies and, as such, have been criticized because inferences at the group level may not hold at the individual level, the "ecological fallacy" (Morgenstern 1995; Piantadosi et al. 1988).
Determining exposure at the level of the group rather than the individual risks the "ecologic fallacy" of assigning potential causation to one factor when in fact another, unmeasured factor is actually responsible.
Although PCT-level analysis is appropriate to ensure findings inform commissioning decisions extrapolation of reported results to individuals risks the ecological fallacy.
This low level and 'homogenous' aggregation minimises the potential for ecological fallacy (misattribution of individual socioeconomic status using the 'average' socioeconomic profile of a greater sample of individuals)[ 25].
Since this is an ecological study, it is imperative not to generalise our findings to the individual level, avoiding any ecology fallacy.
