official statistics (secondary data)

Question 1

briefly explain official statistics and give some examples of statistics collected

Answer 1

qualitative and secondary data collected by the government or other official bodies or organisations/groups (e.g. trade unions, charities and businesses)
- e.g. in birth, marriage, unemployment, crime, poverty statistics

Question 2

give 2 main ways of collecting official statistics

Answer 2

registration- e.g. law requires parents to register birth of their child

official surveys- e.g. the census (biggest one done every 10 years) and general household survey

Question 3

are official statistics ethical

Answer 3

generally they are as they don’t reveal any personal information about a specific individual.

Question 4

give 4 practical advantages of official statistics

Answer 4

• accessible: everyone can view them as they are online
• cheap: free source of huge amounts of data (as it’s secondary)
• allows comparisons between groups: many different stats on different groups/topics to compare to
• shows patterns and trends over time: collected at regular intervals

Question 5

give 4 practical disadvantages of official statistics

Answer 5

• lacks depth (quantitative doesn’t show feelings or background information to the number)
• may not be any statistics available on a particular topic of research (they are government collected not for benefit of sociologists)
• definitions state uses in collecting data may be different from those sociologists use (may result in mismatching sets of data)
• may be outdated: definitions change over time and may make comparisons difficult

Question 6

briefly explain why positivists like official statistics

Answer 6

because they are social facts which are representative (large scale) and make it easier to establish patterns/trends/correlations and test hypothesis. they are also high in reliability (standardised categories) which positivists like their research to be

Question 7

give 3 reasons why official statistics are representative

Answer 7

• cover very large numbers (sociologists couldn’t do that alone)
• care is taken with sampling procedures
• provide a better basis for making generalisations and testing hypothesis

Question 8

why are official survey statistics not as representative?

Answer 8

as they’re only based on a sample of the relevant population (e.g. crime survey)

Question 9

why do official statistics have high levels of reliability?

Answer 9

they’re complied in a standardised way (by trained staff following set procedures)

Question 10

why do interpretivists believe official statistics are social constructions rather than social facts?

Answer 10

because they’re created by social actors (police, doctors, schools) which reduced their validity

Question 11

hard statistics

Answer 11

generally more external validity
- often created through registration rather than subjective interpretation of social actors (birth and marriage certificates).

Question 12

soft statistics

Answer 12

generally less valid because they’re based on decisions of social actors
- they often neglect a ‘dark figure’ of unrecorded cases

Question 13

external validity

Answer 13

examines whether the findings of a study can be generalised to other contexts

Question 14

give 3 criticisms marxists make of official statistics

Answer 14

• believe they’re part of the ISA (ideological state apparatus, by Althusser), meaning that the proletariat stays in a state of false class consciousness
• any statistics which highlight the exploitative nature of capitalism aren’t published (e.g. class differences in death rates aren’t included in the census)
• social class differences in statistics are based on occupation which often conceals the wealth of the ruling class

Question 15

give 3 criticisms feminists make of official statistics

Answer 15

• official statistics are created by the state, which helps to maintain patriarchal oppression (e.g. there’s a considerable amount of statistics on employment outside the home but little on unpaid domestic work)
• definitions have been changed (no longer use the term ‘male head of household’)
• they don’t necessarily highlight the gender pay gap correctly, due to the state creating them they may try hide any gender differences to ensure patriarchy of society is maintained

Question 16

give 3 problems with official statistics on education

Answer 16

• statistics on pupils on FSM aren’t accurate, as many students don’t register for FSM due to social stigma
• ethnic minorities in particular will often study for GCSEs and A levels at college, these post school qualifications aren’t reflected in statistics comparing ethnic group attainments
• rates of exclusion aren’t always officially registered (may make pupils learn offsite so they aren’t technically excluded to ensure their exclusion rate isn’t too high as it would affect the school image)

Question 17

give 3 problems with official statistics on health

Answer 17

• experts disagree on definitions of health (no clear definition to compare symptoms to), some regard it negatively as being free from symptoms of illness and disability and others refer to it as being physically fit or feeling able to cope.
• those seeking alternative therapies may not be included in official statistics
• they calculate morbidity rates by visits to the doctors, sick people differ in degree to which they seek convential professional treatment (e.g. men are less likely to go as it’s a sign of weakness)

Question 18

give 3 problems with official statistics on poverty

Answer 18

• current widely accepted definition of poverty is having an income that’s less than 60% of the national average (excludes wealthiest members) but different measures have been used in the past (no clear definition to measure against)
• how people feel they compare to peers is a key way of defining relative poverty which differs from absolute poverty (unclear which is shown in stats)
• income is difficult to measure because many people fail to declare how much they really have to evade tax

Question 19

give 3 problems with official statistics on religion

Answer 19

• there’s no clear definition for a religion (new age beliefs aren’t reflected in official stats)

-some sects hold religious services in members houses or public spaces, which are excluded from official attendance figures

• people may attend religious services without believing in the religion (e.g. for weddings or funerals)

Question 20

give 3 problems with official statistics on crime

Answer 20

• some crimes aren’t reported as they’re too trivial and embarrassing (e.g. sexual assault)
• police stop and search certain types of people and patrol particular areas unevenly, uncovering more crime as a result
• self report surveys, people may exaggerate or under report their criminal behaviours

Question 21

give 3 problems with official statistics on family

Answer 21

• homosexual relationships are still sufficiently stigmatised so makes it harder to obtain stats
• any figures based on proportion of people living in particular ways are only snapshots disguising the fact many move in and out of relationships over time
• rates of cohabitation are difficult to calculate as for many its a temporary informal arrangement