Theory and Methods Topic 6 - secondary sources

Question 1

Four different types of secondary data:

Answer 1

Secondary data refers to findings which already exist that others have created or gathered:

• Official statistics such as -> census, suicide stats, health stats, crime stats, unemployment stats and education stats
• Other research -> by sociologists, journalists and government departments
• Media -> newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, films, DVDs and the internet
• Other sources -> diaries, letters, historical documents, photographs and autobiographies

Question 2

Types of quantitative secondary sources:

Answer 2

Official statistics, non-official statistics and existing quantitative sociological research

Question 3

Types of qualitative secondary sources:

Answer 3

Public documents, personal documents, historical documents and existing qualitative sociological research

Question 4

Official statistics

Answer 4

Favoured by positivists as they are reliable and quantitative therefore it is easy to test hypotheses and establish cause and effect relationships.
Interpretivists say official statistics lack validity, are not qualitative and are social constructions
Examples of stats:
- Birth stats can be used to plan the number of school places needed
- OFSTED use exam results to assess effectiveness of schools
- Census is sent to every household in the UK population every 10 years

Question 5

Practical advantages of official statistics (4)

Answer 5

1. Cost - they’re a free source of a huge amount of data which saves sociologists time and money
2. Large scale data - only the government can afford to conduct large scale surveys
3. Available government data - only the government has power to compel citizens to provide information, official stats may be the only way to find out about a topic
4. Access to data across time periods - stats allow comparisons amongst other groups and are collected across intervals therefore showing trends and patterns over time

Question 6

Ethical advantage of official statistics

Answer 6

1. All ethical guidelines have been considered - no additional consent is needed because stats are publicly available. Names, addresses and personal info are kept confidential

Question 7

Theoretical advantages of official statistics (2)

Answer 7

1. Representativeness - official stats cover very large numbers of people and care is taken when selecting a sample which means it’s often more representative than other methods. Allows for generalisations and testing hypotheses
2. Reliability - official stats are often seen as very reliable as they are produced in a standardised way, using set procedures. Easily replicated and comparisons could be made

Question 8

Practical disadvantage of official statistics (one theorist)

Answer 8

1. Limited data - government may not gather stats on the topic that we’re interested in, and the information may be protected meaning access can’t be gained

E.g. Durkheim’s study of suicide wanted to investigate religion but this wasn’t something the government had recorded.

Question 9

Ethical disadvantages of official statistics (2)

Answer 9

1. Harmful effects - some critics say that collecting stats can have a harmful effect, e.g. league tables and publishing the results could lead to inequalities and ‘teaching to the test’
2. Manipulating results - official stats may downplay or exaggerate certain issues such as employment rates, crime rates or economic growth which could incur harm

Question 10

Theoretical disadvantages of official statistics (2)

Answer 10

1. Hard and soft statistics - ‘hard’ statistics can provide validity for example, number of births and death, but ‘soft’ statistics give a much less valid picture for example, police stats not covering all crimes
2. Lack validity - errors can be made when producing data such as coding or completing the form incorrectly

Question 11

Documents (three types)

Answer 11

Refer to any written texts, including diaries, government reports, medical records, novels, newspapers, letters, emails, blogs…

• Public documents: produced for public knowledge by organisations such as government, school councils, welfare agencies and businesses. Can include official reports of public enquiries such as ‘The Black Report’ (1980) which looked in to health inequalities
• Personal documents: are usually private documents for a person’s use only. They’re first hand accounts of events and experiences and usually include feelings/attitudes
• Historical: personal or public documents created in the past therefore they’re often the only source of information available, e.g. Thomas and Znaniecki (1919) used personal documents to look at the meanings individuals gave to their experience of migration

Question 12

Assessing documents (one theorist)

Answer 12

Scott (1990) argues when it comes to assessing documentary sources, the general principles are the same as those for any types of sociological evidence, the criteria:

• Authenticity -> is the document what it claims to be? Are there any missing pages? Who actually wrote the document? (Adolf Hitler’s diaries were found to be complete forgery after being purchased for millions of pounds)
• Credibility -> is the document believable? Was the author sincere? Is the document accurate?

Question 13

Practical advantages of documents (3)

Answer 13

1. Cost - they’re a cheap source of data because somebody has already done the research
2. Accessibility - many secondary sources are readily available through libraries, online databases and archives making them readily available
3. Efficiency - secondary sources provide a quick and efficient way to access information without conducting primary research

Question 14

Ethical advantage of documents

Answer 14

1. Detached method - doesn’t often require face to face interaction with participants, looks at already existing data which reduces harm within the research

Question 15

Theoretical advantages of documents (2)

Answer 15

1. Credibility - well regarded secondary sources, especially those published in reputable journals often undergo rigorous peer review and quality control, enhancing credibility
2. High in validity - personal documents enable the researcher to get close to the social actor’s reality, giving insight to qualitative data

Question 16

Practical disadvantage of documents

Answer 16

1. Availability bias - the availability of secondary sources can be influenced by factors such as funding, publication preferences and language. This may lead to underrepresentation

Question 17

Ethical disadvantage of documents

Answer 17

1. Consent - if somebody has passed away they cannot consent to their diary to be published

Question 18

Theoretical disadvantages of documents (3)

Answer 18

1. Lacks reliability - documents can often be personal or they may report a particular event or specific case study, therefore cannot be repeated as a method of study
2. Impacts on validity - documents may not always show the truth, some documents may be government led which have a specific agenda
3. Representativeness - Is the evidence in the document typical? If we cannot answer this, we cannot know whether it is safe to generalise from it (not all documents survive, not all surviving documents are available to use, certain groups may be underrepresented)

Question 19

Documents content analysis (one theorist):

Answer 19

Documents produce qualitative data which is widely criticised by positivists for lacking reliability and representativeness. Content analysis is a way of turning secondary qualitative data into primary quantitative data, explained by Gill (1998):
- the researcher decides which categories they’re going to use e.g. employee, full time housewife…
- study the source (e.g. TV show) and place characters into chosen categories
- the researcher can count the number in each category and make comparisons (e.g. how often women are portrayed as housewives compared to employees)