Sociology : Official statistics

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  • Created by: wika0821
  • Created on: 20-06-21 18:15

What are official statistics?

They're quantitative data that is collected by government bodies.

They come from two main sources:

1. The day-to-day activities of government departments.

2. Survey e.g the census.

'Hard' statistics -> Simple counts that register events (e.g birth count, death count, etc.). These are not easily manipulated.

'Soft' statistics -> These are easily manipulated e.g crime stats.

Pos. like official stats. as they are collected using standardised and scientific methods.

Official states allow them to find cause-and-effect relationships as the data is representative and reliable.

Inter. reject them because they lack validity - they do not reveal the meanings of social actors.

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Advantages

Availability -> these stats are already made and are therefore cheap and available. Many stats are published each year and therefore updated, allowing pos. to research patterns. The data is already categorised and can be used immediately.

Representativeness -> they're usually based on a very large sample, this makes them highly representative. 

Coverage -> they cover the most important aspects of social life, especially those that govs. are interested in e.g divorce, crime, etc.

Availability -> these stats are already made and are therefore cheap and available. Many stats are published each year and therefore updated, allowing pos. to research patterns. The data is already categorised and can be used immediately.

Prompts to research -> they can provide a starting point for research e.g showing a pattern that needs further studying.

Background data -> they often provide further background material e.g about the ethnic, class and gender make up of the research population.

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Advantages

Comparability of data -> their quantitative state allows for easy comparisons and makes it easy to spot patterns.

Reliability -> as the same categories and form of collection is used each time stats. are gathered, they can be easily replicated by others. The process of how these figures are collected has also been publicly stated, allowing sociologists to check if the same procedure was followed each time. This increases reliability.

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Disadvantages

Definiton and measurement -> A sociologist may define, operationalise and present the data in a different way than what is available to them.

Reliability -> Offical stats may not be as reliable as pos. claim. Recording errors can be made, households missed out and people can fill in forms inaccurately/ lie.

Social construction -> Inter. argue that officials tats are social constructs and not the genuine truth. People decide what is included in these stats. E.g a crime has to be witnessed reported and recorded. Many crimes go unwitnessed, unreported and unrecorded therefore crime statistics underestimate the true crime rate.

Political bias -> Marxists claim that official stats are not politically neutral and that the reflect the bourgeoisie's interests and ideology. Definitions used, the areas that are covered and how the data is presented are political decisions.

Male bias -> Frminists argue that stats are biased against women e.g the definition of 'work' in the census excludes unpaid housework + women are more likely to be 'counted out' in unemployment figures. 

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Evaluation

Pos. present them as 'social facts'. 

Inter. see them as social constructs, not true representations of reality.

'Hard' stats are less socially constructed and more accurate as they are the counts of events (e.g births/ deaths, etc).

'Soft' stat (crime/ unemployment stats, etc) are less reliable + valid as they can be easily manipulated politically or are the outcome of interactions and labelling. 

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Offical stats to study education

Practical issues -> Gov. collects stats from every school in the country. This saves researchers time + money + allows them to make comparisons. Stats allow trends over time to be studied. Govs. are interested in the same educational issues as sociologists. Stats produced by gov. are likely to be very useful. However, definitions used by the sociologist may differ to that of the gov.

Representativeness -> Some official stats on education are highly representative and it would be impossible for a researcher to collect that much data by themselves. These stats cover all pupils in the country = highly representative.

Reliability -> Gov. uses standard definitions and categories when collecting data. This is repeated each year, allowing for direct comparisons to be made. However, govs. can change their definitions and categories which reduces reliability.

Validity -> Inter. believe they are not laid as they are socially constructed. They show figures, not the definitions of social actors. Stats can also be manipulated by schools to present themselves in a positive light. This decreased validity of official stats. However, some stats cannot be manipulated e.g exam results. 

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