Official Statistics

Question 1

Reliability

Answer 1

Positivists see them as reliable as they quantitative data

Question 2

Validity

Answer 2

Positivists see it as valid as they can be used comparatively are usually up to date and allows the reader to stay detached from bias

Question 3

Representativeness

Answer 3

Likely to achieve a much larger sample

Question 4

Theoretical issues

Answer 4

Often tell us very little about people’s experiences
And often are massaged to make things look better than they actually are - Marxists and feminists argue that official statistic serve the interests of elite groups

Question 5

Practical negative

Answer 5

May be biased as they have been gathered for political purposes

Question 6

Example

Answer 6

EHRC carried out a study to investigate whether the uk is meritocratic
Used gov sources relating to class, gender and ethnicity and the labour force survey

Question 7

Theoretical advantages

Answer 7

Enable us to make comparisons between social groups and regions
And historical comparisons