Activity U (II): Unit of Analysis, Niches of Analysis, Levels of Analysis

Understanding Idea Ecology with Niches of Analysis and other thinking tools

I am recently working on a case study called Activity U. The latest article Activity U: The Landscape of Activity Theory (Part I) used the Diagram U to represent a large knowledge enterprise: Activity Theory or Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT).

This article will share one of several insights I learned from the study: Unit of Analysis. I will also introduce my own idea Niches of Analysis and other people’s Levels of Analysis.

1. A Chart about Activity Theory

During the process of writing, I reviewed the theoretical development of Activity Theory with four dimensions of complexity and drew the following chart.

Yrjö Engeström (2010) has mentioned the evolution of activity theory, he said “The first generation built on Vygotsky’s notion of mediated action. The second generation built on Leont’ev’s notion of an activity system. The third generation, emerging in the past 15 years or so, built on the idea of multiple interacting activity systems focused…