Official Statistics

Question 1

What re some practical strengths of official statistics?

Answer 1

• they are free and easy to access from the internet
• can easily look for trends
• highly up to date
• can be used to study trends over time

Question 2

What are some theoretical strengths of official statistics?

Answer 2

• presumed to be highly representative
• presumed to have come from reliable sources
• hard statistics such as registration data is highly valid

Question 3

What are some practical limitations to official statistics?

Answer 3

• cannot always trust the authenticity and accuracy of government data
• cannot always easily compare different sets of statistics
• the definitions used by the sociologist may differ from those used by the government

Question 4

What are some theoretical limitations to official statistics?

Answer 4

• official statistics are a social construction and not objective facts
• soft statistics such as truancy records are based on decisions made by individual recording bodies and may be inaccurate and invalid

Question 5

What are official statistics?

Answer 5

• qualitative secondary data
• be found online
• come from government sources or similar official bodies