numerical data produced by national and local government bodies
secondary data
there are official statistics on everything
government departments produce a lot of official statistics
regualr surveys such as the census produce a range of statistics
positivists
1 of 9
reliability
whether another researcher, if repeating or replicating reseach using the same method on the same or similat group, would achieve roughly the same results
positivists see them as unreliable as they cannot be repeated
2 of 9
validity
the extent to which the findings of research atually provides a true, genuine or authentic picture of what is being studied
interpretivists may prefer these as they can give a valid picture of writers meanings
3 of 9
advantages
important for palanning and evaluating social policy
frequently the only available source of data in a particular area
readily available and cheap
comphrehensive in coverage, sing large samples. therfore, it is representative becuase they usually use large sample sizes hat represent a large portion of the population or society
often cover large time span
allow intergroup and international comparisons to be made
free source of quantitative data
collected in regualr intervals- trends and cause and effect relationships
4 of 9
limitations
are produced by the state- means they may not be comletely accurate or not providing the complete picture (validity)
only around a quarter of all crime is reported to the police, and even fewer are recorded by them as offences, there is a dark number of undiscovered, unreported and unrecorded crimes (representativeness)
futhermore, with health statistics, not all sick people got to the doctors and not all people that persuade a doctor they are ill actually are, they may just be hypochondriacs
asking different people means getting different answers. sociologists repeating a questionnaire for official statistics are unlikely to get he exact same results as the origional becuase they wont be able to ask the exact same people and statistics especially concerning population, marriage, deaths and crime are constantly changing (reliability)
5 of 9
positivism
representative
reliable- census questions have chaned largely over time though
they do follow standard procedure
6 of 9
interpretivism
statistics are social constructs, they are not the 'real rate' of anything
they distinguish between hard and soft statistics. soft are those created from other things
7 of 9
marxism
may perform ideological functions
showing that things arent as bad as perceived
definitions are different
critics say that not every statistic is to do with capitalism
8 of 9
feminism
created by the state- conceal inequality. housewives are economically inactive
masculine approach
changing definitions- a familiys class was defined by the male. now it is the persons whos name is on the rent or morgage
Comments
No comments have yet been made