statistics

Question 1

what is a statistic ?

Answer 1

a fact or piece of data obtained from a study of a large quantity of numerical data.

Question 2

who is cicourel and what does he argue ?

Answer 2

cicourel ( an interpretavist) argues that crime stats do not give an accurate picture of the amount and types of crime. This is because many stats are not representative of the actual amount of crimes committed, For example, some crimes committed aren’t documented by the police.
e.g stealing stationary meaning its not representative.

Question 3

what’s a self report study ?

Answer 3

A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without any outside interference.

Question 4

what’s a example of self report studies ?

Answer 4

self report study 2002 - surveyed 33000 adults and asked if they had ever to commit a crime.

Question 5

what are the pros of using self report studied / why might they be useful ?

Answer 5

they may be useful because as its anonymous people may feel they’re able to be honest without the fear of judgement. so its more likely that crimes like speeding and petty theft are reported.

Question 6

what are the limitations of using self studies ?

Answer 6

a limitation of using a self study is that people may not be honest they have committed a more serious crime as they may feel as though they could be tracked. Meaning its not really representative.

Question 7

who is Lupton and what did they argue ?

Answer 7

Lupton used stats to see the relationship between poor schools and poor areas.

Question 8

what did Lacey argue ?

Answer 8

Lacey argued the school as a social system, school and lea records, pro and anti school subcultures.

Question 9

what did demack et al find ?

Answer 9

they looked at myths about underachievement through the use of GCSE results for 65,000 pupils
differences in GCSE results 1988-93.

Question 10

what are the strengths of using stats

Answer 10

quick and easy as long as sampling method is right.
macro - done on a large scale
ethical because people aren’t forced to reply.
lots of data
can compare groups - demack et al
saves time and money as secondary data

Question 11

what are the limitations of using stats

Answer 11

not always representative so not generalisable.
circorel think they’re bad because not representative.
takes a long time to analyse
may not include all data e.g crime stats
not 100% reliable
census codes may make errors / forms filled in incorrectly.