Official Statistics Flashcards
1
Q
What are official statistics
A
data collected and held by the government
2
Q
Hard statistics
A
Straightforward legal ‘counts’ eg birth records
3
Q
Soft statistics
A
More easily manipulated - likely not to show the full pictures
- eg crime statistics or unemployment
4
Q
Social construct
A
Statistics that aren’t facts but created socially for certain purposes
5
Q
What do official statistics produce?
A
Quantitative data
- hard statistics are reliable - less so with soft statistics - methods of collection and categories change
- not valid, how concepts are operationalised
- representativeness - sometimes does include full target population
6
Q
Are official statistics practical?
A
Free and instantly available
- analysis can be time consuming and requires certain skills
7
Q
Are official statistics ethical?
A
Yes
8
Q
Theorist for official statistics
A
Positivists
9
Q
Examples
A
Waddington et al - race and police and stop and search
