statistics Flashcards
what are stats
secondary quantitive, valued by positivists
what are official stats
wide range of data collected by government department
examples of government stats
- suicide stats- durkheim to identify social causes
- health stats eg life expectancy, mental health
- crime stats- crimes collected by police, court, CSEW
- the census- count of all people and households, info about population
suicide stats eval
- cant measure= unfalsifiable
- get cause
- unvalid- coroners decisions
health stats eval
- get trends
- prevent/improve
crime stats eval
- not always reported= unnaccurate
- make up patterns
the census eval
- large sample= rep
- detailed
official stats disadvantages
- secondary data so cant control how og data collected
- hidden stats eg unreported crimes
- lack validity as socially constructed
- male bias unpaid domestic work not included as ‘work’ in census
- manipulation- gov may manipulate stats to avoid criticicisms
how is there manipulation in official stats?
- gov manipulate to avoid criticism
- opposing political parities may manipulate stats to portray opposition party negatively
PERVERT official stats
P: easily available
E: no direct involvement
R: easy to identify patterns/trends
V: not as valid as most methods
R: very rep very large sample
T: positivists yes, marxists/rad fem/interpretivists no
what are non-official stats
data collected by agencies other than government departments
official stats advantages
- readily aavailable= practical + cheap
- can cover wide range of data, large sample- reliable
- rep
- no ethical issues
why do interpretivists believe official stats not valid
not facts- interpretation produced requires classification + interpretation
why are marxists critical of official stats
systematically distorted by powerful- stats may exaggerate criminality of minority ethnic groups since more likely be arrested
