L6.2-L7

Question 1

advantage of official stats

Answer 1

usually READILY AVAILABLE for everyone to access and use
- they cost little or nothing to access
- eg internet

Question 2

advantage of official stats (sample)

Answer 2

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES are used to collect official stats
- very large samples
- eg the census = whole of UK

Question 3

govt surveys are …

Answer 3

WELL PLANNED, ORGANISED, DETAILED
- usually involve some kind of additional research (like an interview too)

Question 4

some surveys are … (time)

Answer 4

CONDUCTED REGULARLY
- eg monthly, yearly
- usually up to date and current
- reliable and has HIGH TEMPORAL VALIDITY

Question 5

strength of official stats (easy to …)

Answer 5

PATTERNS and TRENDS of data are usually very easy to identify
- useful when analysing large amounts of official stats

Question 6

official stats can be used …

Answer 6

AGAIN AND AGAIN (test retest) to look at diff variables over a period of time
- research may have MULTIPLE USES

Question 7

advantage of non official stats

Answer 7

more research to use - not just govt data
- comparisons to official stats can be made

validity - more options for a sociologist to choose

Question 8

disadvantages of non official stats (3)

Answer 8

typically only focus on one location
- smaller sample size

biased - they may have their own agenda

less funding - limited budget

Question 9

what are non official stats

Answer 9

not compiled / owned by the govt
- collected by independent companies

Question 10

family histories

Answer 10

method involves using the recorded histories left by those who experienced past events
- can take the form of sound recordings, film or old photos
- can provide insight into conditions and events from the past

Question 11

advantage of family histories

Answer 11

ACCURATE - detailed insight into the past
- physical evidence
- sometimes there may be limited research - it’s good to have something to refer to

Question 12

disadvantages of family history

Answer 12

LIMITED - can’t generalise it to the whole population
- only one person / family

could be OUTDATED - irrelevant

Question 13

previous sociological research

Answer 13

rich sources of info that have been collected by other sociologists
- examine the research topic, aim, results and then decide is we want to replicate the study or extent the topic into a new area

Question 14

advantage of previous sociological research

Answer 14

you can expand on other research
- more efficient because you have the data already
- saves time and money
- less work for you

Question 15

disadvantage of previous sociological research

Answer 15

data may be outdated

may question the accuracy and validity

bias

Question 16

John Scott’s guide for assessing secondary sources

Answer 16

AUTHENTICITY - whether the document is genuine
- soundness = document is complete and reliable
- authorship - who wrote the document

CREDIBILITY - amount of distortion in a document
- can relate to inaccuracy
- author may be writing about info they don’t believe in

REPRESENTATIVENESS - sociologist must be aware of how typical or untypical the documents are
- survival - many documents don’t survive well - not been stored properly
- availability - some documents aren’t readily available

MEANING
- refers to ability of researcher to understand the document

Question 17

longitudinal studies

Answer 17

piece of research carried out over a long period of time
- focuses on tracking the process of change over time
- data collected in sequence (eg yearly)
- can be used to identify causal relationships and correlations

Question 18

longitudinal studies can take various forms such as … (2)

Answer 18

PANEL STUDIES
- data collected from a sample selected from sampling frames (eg postcode address file)
- eg british household panel study (started in 1991, yearly)

COHORT STUDIES
- aim to study people who have the same social characteristics (eg age)
- whole group of people may be studied - school class or a sam0e of the class

Question 19

methods used in longitudinal studies

Answer 19

interviews
focus groups
surveys

Question 20

how may the research be funded ? (longitudinal)

Answer 20

govt funding
charities
investors
research councils

Question 21

advantages of longitudinal studies (6)

Answer 21

comparisons over time
high in validity
high in verstehen
many variables over time
correlations
can be used to inform policy making

Question 22

disadvantages of longitudinal studies (7)

Answer 22

people may drop out
low in reliability
quite limited - specific to the people involved
expensive
time consuming
demand characteristics
bias researcher - gets too close to pps