This is going to be a short post. My biggest learning for this week is the importance of returning to the literature, relentlessly. This is essential because as research progresses understanding of the data and overall topic deepens and this creates an expanded ability to understand, and evaluate, literature that has been previously explored. Also, methodology or findings that seemed unimportant previously may now be of utmost importance. I am also struck by the range of rules that exist in theory but may have different interpretations depending on the field of study. Again, this highlights the importance of understanding the literature in your field of study.
A good example of this is the concept of unit of analysis, which I understood to be either individual or group level, but not both. After rereading several papers this morning, I am learning that the very nature of my topic is multi-level. Of course, I knew this practically but was struggling with how to address this reality statistically. This may mean that I am not as constrained by my 22 cases of financial results as I thought. I am looking forward to exploring further.