Ecological fallacy occurs when?

• A. Inferring individual characteristics from group data
• B. Inferring group characteristics from individual data
• C. Confounding variables
• D. Sampling error

Answer: (A)

Inferring individual characteristics from group data.

Group data summarize what is typical for a population, but individuals within the group can differ widely. Ecological fallacy happens when you take a group-level pattern or average and assume it must hold for a specific person. For example, if a city has a high average income, concluding that a particular resident is wealthy just because they live there ignores the variation among individuals. The mistake is applying group-level conclusions to individuals.

Inferring group characteristics from individual data is a different error (the opposite direction, sometimes called the atomistic fallacy). The other options describe separate methodological issues: confounding variables involve an outside factor that influences both variables, and sampling error comes from not having a perfectly representative sample.