research methods- official statistics Flashcards
Practical disadvantages of official statistics
-The government creates statistics for its own intended purpose, so they may not be any data available for the topic of interest of the sociologist.
-Finding correlating data may be difficult, as the physical area covered may be slightly different for each set of statistics.
-The government may use different terms in the data than the sociologist, for example, homelessness may be defined differently.
-The state may change their definitions over time and different states may define terms differently. This makes it difficult to make comparisons over time or between countries.
Practical advantages of official statistics
-A huge source of free, quantitative data.
-The state has the ability to carry out large-scale surveys, such as the Census.
-The state has the ability to compel individuals to supply certain data, for example parents are required by law to register births.
-The census allows us to make comparisons across the whole UK population, based on social group, region, etc.
-Collected at regular intervals, so trends and patterns can be found over time.
Marxism and statistics
-Reject the positivist claim that statistics are objective social facts.
-Regard official statistics to be serving the need of capitalism.
-See official statistics as an ideological state apparatus–>Althusser.
Ideological functions of official statistics- Marxism
-The definitions used in official statistics are a way of concealing the reality of capitalism.
-Social class categories in official statistics are based on occupation. This gives the idea that there is a gradual hierarchy between several classes.
-Conceals the depiction of a ruling classes position being based on ownership of wealth, not occupation.
-Critics argue that not all official statistics serve the interests of capitalism. For example, statistics on illnesses and life expectancy show clear evidence of class inequality.
Feminism and statistics
-Feminists such an Oakley and Graham reject the use of quantitative survey methods of research as they believe them to be “masculine”or patriarchal models of research.
-As official statistics are often made using these methods, this is also a criticism of the statistics they produce.
-Official statistics are created by the state, which feminists believe maintains patriarchal oppression.
-They believe that official statistics are used to conceal or legitimate gender inequality and maintains women’s subordination.
-Official statistics neglect women’s economic contribution and they reflect the patriarchal nature of the state.
-However, there have also been changes in the definitions used in official statistics that outline women’s position more clearly.
-For example, a family’s class used to be determined by the occupation of the male head of the household. Whereas, now it is determined by the household reference person (HRP), which is the person who rents or owns the home.
Positivism and statistics
-Take for granted that official statistics are real, objective social facts.
-They allow sociologists to identify and measure behaviour, test hypotheses and develop casual laws to explain the patterns of behaviour that statistics reveal.
Positivism and representativeness
-Important to positivists as they like to make general statements about the whole of society.
-Therefore, they place emphasis on finding representative samples in society that can be used to find results that are generalisable to the wider population. These are then used to test hypotheses.
-Official statistics often provide a more representative sample than surveys conducted by a sociologist with a limited budget.
Positivism and reliability
-Believe they are a reliable source of data.
-This means that if another person collected the statistics, with the same variables, the results would likely be the same set of figures.
-This is particularly true for statistics created from official surveys, like the Census.
-With these surveys, statistics are found using standardised methods and administrated in the same way with all participants.
-This means they are reliable as a researchers could replicate the technique an get the same results.
-However, these statistics are not always reliable, as individuals may deceive or make errors in their responses, they may even fill out the form incorrectly.
Interpretivism and statistics
-Cicourel (1968) and other interpretivists reject the idea that statistics are object social facts.
-Believe statistics are merely social constructs. Believe that they simply reflect the labels that the state places on individuals.
-They believe we should instead study them as a topic in and of themselves and how they are socially constructed.
-For example, medical statistics only consist of those who see a doctor, which could be due to pressure from family, rather than reflecting the real figure.
Hard statistics
-Provide a valid figure.
-Include statistics on births, deaths, marriages and deaths which individuals have a legal responsibility to report.
-Only a slight chance of these going unrecorded, insignificant when compiling this data.
Soft statistics
-Give a much less valid picture of reality.
-Compiled from administrative records created by state agencies.
-Fail to create a representative picture of the real word.
-Neglect an unknown or “dark figure” of unrecorded cases.
-For example, on schools, not all pupils report every incident.
