Official stats


	Official stats
	Advantages Positivisits take a scientific approach and favour quantitative data that allows them to produce generalisations and cause and effect statements. Prefer official stats as it delivers large scale representative data. Quantitative nature makes it easy to make comparisons. Same catergories and mode of collection so research can be replicated RELIABLE They already exist so are cheap and readily available in an acessible form. Some are published monthly so can be analysed for trends usually based on a very large sample so high representative	Disadvantages Political bias- marxists claim official stats are not politically neutral, they reflect ruling class interests and ideology. May not be as reliable, e.g. the census: reading errors are made and households are missed out + people may also complete forms inaccurately Male bias: feminists argue that they are biased against women, definitions of work used may exclude unpaid housework, women are more likely to not be included in employment figures
	Evaluation SECONDARY DATA.

Positivisits take a scientific approach and favour quantitative data that allows them to produce generalisations and cause and effect statements. Prefer official stats as it delivers large scale representative data. Quantitative nature makes it easy to make comparisons. Same catergories and mode of collection so research can be replicated RELIABLE
They already exist so are cheap and readily available in an acessible form. Some are published monthly so can be analysed for trends
usually based on a very large sample so high representative

Political bias- marxists claim official stats are not politically neutral, they reflect ruling class interests and ideology.
May not be as reliable, e.g. the census: reading errors are made and households are missed out + people may also complete forms inaccurately
Male bias: feminists argue that they are biased against women, definitions of work used may exclude unpaid housework, women are more likely to not be included in employment figures

SECONDARY DATA.

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