Official Statistics

what are official statistics?

O.S are a firm of secondary data, it already exists and aren't produced by the researcher

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what 2 statistics are there?

.official statistics- collected by the gov
.unofficial statistics- collected by anyone except the gov.

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what are the 2 categories of statistics?

.hard data- collects facts and is used w proven methods
.soft data- involves opinions, feelings and observations

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what is the ONS?

Office of National statistics
-gives gold standards ti statistics that are reliable and thorough

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who prefer O.S?

+positivists prefer this as it has quantitative data
-interpretivists believe statistics are unhelpful
-marxists dislike O.S as they think its collected to serve for the MC so they re biased sources of data

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name the reliability and validity evaluations

-data collected by somebody else for a diff reason
-no control over original data so questionable reliability/ validity
-O.S can be manipulated by gov for political advantage

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continuing w previous card

+O.S can be replicable as ONS requires replicability of statistics

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name the representativeness evaluations

+much larger sample achieved ie entire target populations
-no control over how sample is obtained

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name the practicality evaluations

+easily accessible
+free
+analysed-quickly
-some may cost money to access
->+cheaper then producing results yourself

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name the ethical evaluations

+not many ethical issues
-some data is state surveillance and socially damaging ie schools and league tables

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what issues can be studied for methods of context in education?

-ethnicity, gender, class educational diff
-school attendance, truancy and inclusion
-league tables, marketisation and school performance
-gender + subject choice
-education, work and training

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name the practical evaluations

+saves money +time as data is already published
+can make comparisons between dif social groups
+educational statistics are regulated and kept in frequent intervals (can see over time)
+gov gather O.S to monitor effectiveness of social polices

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continuing w previous card

-key concepts of sociologists/ statistics can differ
-state may not collect O.S on pupils social classes only ie free school meal (-but those on free school meals may not collect them due to bullying)
->-not all free school meal kids are WC, could be big

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name the representativeness evaluations

+highly representative ie all state schools gas to complete a school census 3x a year

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name the reliability evaluations

+positivists favour this as they can establish a cause and effect rs
-errors may occur in O.S
+can replicate time to time, showing differences over the years
-gov can change definitions/categories

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name the validity evaluations

-interpretivists argue educational statistics are socially constructed so question validity
-schools can manipulate figures by re-defining them ie attendances as being on study leave/work experience, undermining validity

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Get Revising

Official Statistics

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Card 2

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Card 3

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Card 4

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Card 5

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