1.3: What Types of Information and Data Do Sociologists Use Notes:

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA:

• Primary data: collected by the researcher 

• Secondary data: data that already exists. It could be found in official statistics, published by other researchers, the media, other sources like diaries, or data that the researcher collected previously for another experiment

• Both primary and secondary data can be either quantitative or qualitative

QUANTITATIVE SECONDARY DATA:

1. OFFICIAL STATISTICS:

• They are produced by the government or official agencies and are the main source of secondary quantitative data

• Includes hard statistics which should be completely accurate such as records of all births of the citizens and soft statistics which depend on people making decisions about what to record and how (may lead to different statistics) such as crime and unemployment statistics

• Advantages:

1. They are readily available, cheap/free, easy to use and access (on the internet)

2. Well planned and organized

3. Likely to be valid, reliable, and representative

4. They are often a part of longitudinal research so it is easy to identify trends (change over time in a particular direction)

5. Allows comparisons to be made such as between genders

6. Widely used to help governments and organizations plan ahead

• Disadvantages:

1. Interpretivists would argue that statistics are socially constructed rather than being objective

2. Statistics are not always as complete or accurate as they appear to be

3. Official statistics are funded by the government which means that politics can affect the statistics

4. Official statistics have been done by others and are unlikely to contain what the sociologist wants

5. Marxists argue that the statistics reflect the ruling class

6. Comparisons can only be made if the data was measured the same way every year to make a comparison study (looking at two or more groups/events in terms of their similarities and differences)

• Non-official statistics are produced by other organizations (not the government) like charities and religious groups

DIAGRAMS, CHARTS, GRAPHS, AND TABLES:

• Due to the use of quantitative data and statistics, the data will need to be presented in one or more of these formats

QUALITATIVE SECONDARY DATA:

HISTORICAL AND PERSONAL DOCUMENTS (DIARIES):

• Historical documents include a wide range of documents from the past used as sources of information used by sociologists

• Personal accounts like diaries and letters are more personal than representative and their validity will need to checked. Some diaries may be hard to obtain (they can be with the family and they may be hesitant to give it away)

• Sociologists can make use of autobiographies

• Advantages:

1. They may be high in validity

2. Offers first-hand experience to an event

3. They provide deep and detailed insights that could be missing in statistics

• Disadvantages:

1. They may be unrepresentative

2. They may need to be checked against other sources

3. They may be biased

MEDIA CONTENT:

• The media (such as newspapers, internet, films, etc.) provide a vast amount of material of interest to sociologists

• Researchers need to be aware of bias and subjectivity found in the content studied

• When it comes to novels and films, they can capture the events that occurred in that moment in time. However, it can become difficult to differentiate between events that really happened and the writer's imagination

INTERPRETING AND EVALUATING EVIDENCE FROM QUALITATIVE SOURCES:

1. Who produced this source?

2. Why was this source produced?

3. Was the author in a position that qualifies him/her to write about this event?

4. Does the source seem biased?

5. Are there other sources that corroborate or conflict this source?

NOTES DONE BY FARIDA SABET

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