Research Methods: Official Statisics

Question 1

What is secondary data

Answer 1

Data that is gathered/ produced by other people for their own purposes that is often used in sociologist research

Question 2

Advantages of secondary data

Answer 2

-Easy to access- already exists. Means it is cheaper and less time consuming to obtain
-Wide range of material available
-Useful to research the past
-Useful for preliminary research
-USually use quantitative data- easier to analyse and compare large sums of data

Question 3

Disadvantages of secondary data

Answer 3

-Wasn’t collected by the sociologist so isn likely to directly meet their research aims. May have been created for a specific purpose, leading to bias.

Question 4

What are official statistics

Answer 4

Quantitative data gathered by the government or other official bodies E.G businesses, charities etc
The gov. Often collects it to inform future policy making

Question 5

Are official statistics collected for sociologists

Answer 5

NO

Question 6

What two ways are there for collecting official statistics

Answer 6

-Registration
-Official surveys

Question 7

Examples of official statistics

Answer 7

-divorce rates
-marriage rates
-crime rate

Question 8

What are the types of official statistics

Answer 8

-Hard statistics
-Soft statistics

Question 9

What are hard statistics

Answer 9

-Facts that once certified, cannot be changed. E.G birth and deaths have to officially be registered. Also arrange and divorces.

Question 10

What are soft statistics

Answer 10

-Data that is not directly measurable or observable but instead are based on opinions, perceptions etc. Often rely on people coming forward. E.G crime rates- rely on a victim coming forward

Question 11

Practical advantages of using official statistics

Answer 11

-Easy to access- already available. Means time and money is saved
-Produces large amounts of data
-Produce quantitative data- easier to compare and analyse groups
-Collected at regular intervals- show trends and patterns overtime. Can be used for ‘before and after’. Up to date.

Question 12

Practical disadvantages of official statistics

Answer 12

-Collected for gov. Purposes not sociologist- may not be directly relevant to the research.
-May lack data on specific sociological topics
-Official definitions (e.g of poverty) may differ from sociological definitions

Question 13

Ethical advantages of official statistics

Answer 13

-No direct involvement with human participants- all ethical guidelines have already been covered by the people who collected the data. E.G informed consent etc.
-Less risk of harm being done to a participant

Question 14

Ethical disadvantages of official statistics collected

Answer 14

-May cause potential harm if the data is used I’m a way that misrepresents groups or reinforces stereotypes

Question 15

Theoretical advantages of official statistics

Answer 15

-Positivists- Reliable, generalisable and high in validity. Scientific because they use objective and quantitative data
-Useful for hypothesis testing E.G Durkheim’s study on suicide
-Useful to expose how the state may use statistics ideologically. (E.g under representing unemployment)

Question 16

Theoretical disadvantages of official statistics

Answer 16

-Interpretivist- lack validity, especially soft stats (e.g crime and employment)
-Statistics may reflect institutional bias/ serve ruing class ideology, making them unreliable for sociologist research (but good for exposing this)
-Tell us more about labelling processes than actual social behaviour