Official Statistics [Non Context] Flashcards
What is an access advantages?
Large data that’s collected at regular intervals
What’s the impact of consistent collection?
Gain an overview of the trends and patterns
What is a cost advantage?
Virtual, free source of data
What is an access disadvantage about the Gov?
They collect the data instead of the researcher
What’s the impact of data collected by Gov?
Researcher’s topic may not be there
Ex - Religion in the suicide victims
What is an access disadvantage about definitions?
The data definitions may be different from the researcher
What’s the impact of different definitions?
It may be confusing, and be a barrier to the research
Offensive as diff views on how large problem is
What is an ethical disadvantage?
Misinterpretation of data
What’s the impact of misinterpretation?
Could lead to Harm to Participants
How may misinterpretation lead to HTP?
Data may be used to support discriminatory practices or policies
Is it reliable?
Yes as it’s compiled in a standardised format
How is data compiled?
By trained staff following set procedures
What is an example of reliability?
Trained staff look at occupations for social class hints
Why may it not be reliable sometimes?
Census coders can make errors and omit wrong data
Ppl may fill in form incorrectly
Is it valid?
Only hard statistics are valid
What is an example of hard statistics?
Stats on nᵒ of marriage, death
Why are hard statistics valid?
Have an accurate pic as they’re recorded
= Successfully measure
Why are soft statistics not valid?
There’s no true picture because of vague results
What are examples of soft statistics?
Police stats - not all crimes are recorded
School stats - not all racist incidents are recorded
What is an example study?
In 2014,
The Crime Survey for England + Wales had a sample size of 50,000 people
Is it representative?
Yes as it cover large samples cause of big data
What is an examples of representativeness?
Compulsory registration like births and deaths cover all cases virtually
Why may it not be representative sometimes?
Based on small samples
Samples only on relevant population
Who favours Official Statistics?
Positivists
Why do Positivists favour this?
Can compare data for ‘cause + effect relations’
for Before + After studies
Reliable data
Who doesn’t favour Official Statistics?
Interpretivists
Why don’t Interpretivists favour this?
Doesn’t represent ‘social facts’
Doesn’t investigate the how
What do Interpretivists also say?
It lacks an insight into individuals subjective experiences
Define ‘social facts’
Real things
