topic 2: secondary data Flashcards
advantages of secondary data
helps identify gaps in existing research
saves time and money
often bigger data sets than primary research
allows comparisons across time to be made
disadvantages of secondary data
validity is uncertain
may be out of date
may be difficult to find the specific research you need
define official statistics
quantitative numerical data collected by the government usually via ONS
- census (1851)
- General Household Survey
- Family Expenditure Survey
- Labour Force Survey
advantages of official statistics
- provide large scale, expensive, time consuming data that would otherwise be unavailable
- reliable
- representative
disadvantages of official statistics
- different governments define terms differently (trends might be result of changing definitions)
- interpretivists: lacking validity
define unofficial statistics
quantitative data collected by independent non governmental organisations (employers, trade unions, political parties, think tanks)
- University of Sussex: Mass Observation archive
advantages of unofficial statistics
usually representative
positivists: reliable bc they’re collected in a systematic, standardised, scientific way
disadvantages of unofficial statistics
not as reliable as official stats bc less strict checks?
interpretivists: lack validity, no depth or detail
define personal documents
sources of qualitative info like letters, diaries, photos, novels, newspapers
advantages of personal documents
- interpretivists: highly valid
- more detail, broad insight into specific area of research
disadvantages of personal documents
low reliability: difficult to make clear comparisons
low representativeness (/validity potentially)
define content analysis
systematically studying the content of documents or the media (TV, films, letters, radio etc) producing both qualitative and quantitative data
advantages of content analysis
practical and cheap
representative, can be very large scale
allows comparison over long periods of time, can be longitudinal
reliable (results can be repeated and cross-checked)
disadvantages of content analysis
CAN be time consuming
risk of subjectivity, bias, value imposition
only shows views of those who create the media (not representative?)
define longitudinal study
studies conducted over a long period of time with the sample being visited more than once