Secondary sources of data
- Created by: 11pyoung
- Created on: 21-04-18 13:36
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- Secondary sources of data
- Why sociologists use secondary sources
- The information already exists
- saves time
- Includes data that is beyond the means of sociologists to collect because of the scale
- Able to research past societies and how societies change
- The information already exists
- Problems and limitations of secondary sources
- The person who first created the source did so for a reason
- Creates bias
- The person who first created the source did so for a reason
- Types of secondary data
- Government statistics and reports
- Positivist views of official statisitcs
- Emile Durkheim
- Secondary data are valid and reliable
- Emile Durkheim
- Interpretivist views of official statistics
- Official statistics are an interpretation produced by government agencies
- Impossible to produce objective, reliable and valid statistics
- Official statistics are an interpretation produced by government agencies
- Radical views of official statistics
- Government statistics are systematically distorted by the powerful
- Positivist views of official statisitcs
- Reports and government inquiries
- The government and powerful bodies have the power to exclude discussion of issues that they do not want to become the centre of public attention
- Qualitative secondary sources
- Historical sources
- Vital for studying long-term social changes
- Only some have survived
- No guarantee that these are representative
- Life documents
- Plummer
- personal documents are rarely used by contemporary sociologists, because surviiving documents may not be representative
- Highly subjective
- Plummer
- Novels and autobiographies
- Gives insight into the attitudes and behaviour of particular groups
- Historical sources
- Previous research
- Previous studies as a starting point
- Can see the ways in which the topic has been researched previously
- Able to construct a study that explores a different 'angle' f the problem
- Can see the ways in which the topic has been researched previously
- Previous studies as a starting point
- Official publications
- Diaries and letters
- Novels and works of fiction
- Oral history and family histories
- The media
- The media and content analysis
- The internet as a secondary source
- Vast range of qualitative and quantitative data is available
- Stuart Stein
- Unlike with published sources, there is no editorial process designed to ensure the validity and reliability of the data
- Content analysis is relatively cheap
- The internet as a secondary source
- The media and content analysis
- Government statistics and reports
- Secondary sources in the context of education
- The use of official statistics
- Practical issues
- Plentiful and easily accessible
- Info wanted by sociologists are not always available
- Ethical issues
- No ethical issues with published statistics
- Theoretical issues
- Comprehensive
- Generally reliable
- Practical issues
- Qualitative secondary sources in education
- Practical issues
- Cheap
- Quick and easy to access
- Ethical issues
- No issues surrounding public document
- Theoretical issues
- Validity may be called into question
- Practical issues
- The use of official statistics
- Why sociologists use secondary sources
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