Official Statistics (OS) Flashcards
1
Q
What are the Two ways of collecting ‘Official Statistics?’
A
- Registration E.g. Laws require parents to register births
- Official Surveys E.g. Census
2
Q
What are ‘Practical Advantages’ with official statistics?
A
- Free source of data
- Allow comparisons between groups
- Shows patterns + trends over time
3
Q
What are ‘Practical Disadvantages’ with official statistics?
A
- Governments collect data for their own usage
- Definitions used by that state are different to sociologists
- Definitions change over time
4
Q
Why are official statistics ‘Representative?’
A
- OS cover a large sample
- Better basis for generalisations + testing hypothesis
5
Q
Why aren’t official statistics ‘Representative?’
A
- Compulsory registrations highly representative
- Statistics that aren’t compulsory are less likely to be representative
- Trained personnel can still make errors when recording dats
6
Q
Why do official statistics lack ‘Validity?’
A
- Hard statistics succeed in gaining valid data E.g. Demographic data
- Soft statistics don’t gain valid data E.g. Police statistics
7
Q
How do Positivists view official statistics?
A
- Valuable source of data + objective
- Durkheim’s study on suicide hypothesises suicide as a lack of social integration using ‘Comparative Method’
- Proved hypothesis correct
8
Q
How do Interprevists view official statistics?
A
- OS lack validity since they don’t represent social facts
- Atkinson’s argues suicide statistics do not represent real rate but coroners labelling
9
Q
How do Marxists view official statistics?
A
- OS serve the interests of capitalism E.g. Unemployment statistics underestimate its impact
- Official police statistics undermine demonstrations against government policy
