THEORY AND METHODS - Official statistics

Question 1

Define official statistics

Answer 1

Numerical information collected and used by the government to make decisions about society and the economy

Question 2

What type of document is official statistics

• and what data does it include
• Who would prefer it

Answer 2

Secondary

• Quantitative data
• Positivism

Question 3

What theoretical strengths are there of official statistics

• Comparisons (E.g.)
• Representative
• Detachment
• History

Answer 3

• Enable easy comparisons between social groups and establish trends (E.g. National census)
• Gov. is large and thus representative for collecting data from such a large population
• Researcher can remain detached from respondents
• Can make historical comparisons too

Question 4

What theoretical limitations are there

• Validity
• Marxists / feminists
• Comparisons difficulty

Answer 4

• Lack validity E.g. not all crimes will be reported and they are collected by the state to make things look better than they actually are - unemployment statistics have been changed a few times - or are not actually known - like rape
• Marxists / feminists may serve the interests of elite groups - data only collected on things that dont harm those in power
• The way social trends are measured changes over time - making historical comparisons difficult

Question 5

What practical advantages are there

Answer 5

• AVAILABILITY - they’re more likely to be shared with the public as they’re paid by taxes
• ACCESSIBILITY - easier to access and navigate using a website - can also access them from home and do your own comparative social research

Question 6

Practical disadvantages

Answer 6

• They aren’t cheap to collect - needed 4000 merely to collect data
• Also time consuming to collect - census in 2011 took millions of £ to produce
• They are collected for administrative, not research purposes = data that exists might not fit the researchers purposes

Question 7

Ethical advantages

Answer 7

• Collected in ‘national interest’ = avoids bias

- We can check up on public bodies like police end school. making sure tax payers’ money is spent efficiently

Question 8

Ethical disadvantages

Answer 8

• Some statistics can have harmful effects

- Collection of statistics may mainly be about control