Types of Data

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  • Types of data
    • primary data
      • info sociologists collect for themselves and own purposes
      • Methods = social surveys, participant observation, experiments
      • advantages = can gather precisely info needed for their hypothesis
      • disadvantage = can be costly and time consuming
    • Secondary data
      • Info thats been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist can use
      • secondary sources = Official Statistics, documents
      • advantage = quick and cheap way of researching
      • disadvantage = those who produced it may not be interested in the same questions so sources may not provide exact info the sociologist needs
    • Quantitative and Qualitative Data
      • Quantitative = Info in a numerical form e.g official stats, opinion polls, market research is often collected in the form of quantitative data
      • Qualitative = contrasts, gives a 'feel' for what something is like  e.g participant observation gives a sense of what it feels like to be part of a particular group, these methods give rich descriptions of people's feelings and experiences

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