evaluate quantitative secondary data (20)

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

-quantitative secondary data is numerical data that the sociologist has not gathered themselves, but already exists
-it is usually found in the form of official statistics (eg. ONS)

Question 2

practical (strength)

Answer 2

-the practicality of a research method refers to how easy it is to conduct, looking at access to locations, funding, time, and ppts
-often times, quantitative secondary data may be the only source a sociologist can access as it is often freely available, making secondary data a highly practical method of obtaining information

Question 3

ethics (strength)

Answer 3

-the BSA issues a “statements of ethical conduct” which encourages researchers to consider factors such as harm, deception, privacy and confidentiality of the ppt. Ethical research must consider the impact the study may have on both the ppts and the researcher themselves
-secondary data is highly ethical as, sometimes, it may allow for the study of groups that otherwise may be considered unavailable for direct study

Question 4

theory (weakness)

Answer 4

-Interpretivism is an approach to social research that emphasises the need to understand people’s beliefs, attitudes, and motives towards their actions to better understand society. They believe that human behaviour is complex and cannot be reduced to simple cause and effect relationships
-Interpretivists do not like to use quantitative secondary data as they believe it is not detailed enough to allow for an empathetic and complete understanding of the topic being studied. They believe quantitative data is too simple to explain complex human behaviour
-not only does it lack detail, but quantitative secondary data is a problem as definitions may change over time, so older documents may now be inaccurate

Question 5

reliability (weakness)

Answer 5

-reliability refers to the repeatability of a study, so if the study were to be replicated it would produce the same results
-there’s issues with using older secondary data as definitions are likely to have changed over time, making older documents now inaccurate

Question 6

representativeness (weakness)

Answer 6

-representativeness is the extent to which a sample mirrors the researcher’s target population and reflects it’s characteristics
-quantitative secondary data may be considered unrepresentative
-especially in older documents, some groups may have purposely been left out from data collection, this means that “top-ups” may be required to ensure that minority groups are also covered in research

Question 7

validity (strength)

Answer 7

-the validity of a research method refers to how detailed and accurate the study’s results are
-with quantitative data, categories and definitions are clear as statistical data is easy to analyse
-this allows for easy comparisons between groups and over time