official stats Flashcards
practical issues
Free source of large amounts of data which saves time and money
Stats allow comparisons between groups
Collected at regular intervals which show trends and patterns over time
practical limitations
Govt collects official stats for its own purpose not for the benefit of the sociologists so there may be none available on topics we are interested in - durkhiems study of suicide found that there was no stats specifically on the religion of suicide victims
The state may use certain definitions in collecting data which may be diff from those the sociologist uses
definitions changes over time
representativeness
cover a very large sample sometimes the entire population - all state schools have to compete a school census three times a year
validity
interpretivists argue that they are socially constructed
schools may manipulate their attendance figures due to the marketisation of education
