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SOCIOLOGY - RESEARCH METHODS, SECONDARY METHODS - Coggle Diagram

- - - - only the govt./ official bodies need to pay large sums to gather them, meaning its a free source for sociologists
      - allows comparisons
      - collected at regular intervals, so we can see trends and patterns, meaning we can establish cause and effect
      - definitions change, so comparing is difficult
      - stats definitions may be different to sociological definitions -> different perspectives on the scale of a problem
      - govt. collects stats that only benefit them, not sociologists, so there won't be stats for every topic
    - - confidentiality
      - informed consent
      - future harm
    - - representativeness
        
        some stats less representative, e.g. stats from compulsory registration
        
        official stats cover large populations = representative, so can be a better be basis for generalisations + testing hypothesis
        
        e.g. british crime survey could be less representative; they have target populations, not general
      - reliability
        
        reliable - properly trained person is allocated to given case in the same category
        
        not reliable - census coders could make errors/ release info when recording data, public may fill out forms incorrectly
      - validity
        
        'hard' stats - compulsory registration stats give an accurate picture
        
        'soft' stats - e.g. crime stats + dark figure, educational stats don't record every racist incident, but can be mended with self-report/ victim studies (more accurate)
        
        comparisons allow for understandings the 'real rate' of crime
- - - - access
      - personal factors
        
        info in documents may have to be translated, words in a language may have their meanings changed/ misinterpreted
        
        have to interpret what documents meant to the author + their audience
        
        different sociologists = different interpretations
    - - confidentiality/ anonymity
      - informed consent
      - future harm
    - - data type
      - validity
        
        missing pages/ context
        
        whether copies are free from errors
        
        who actually produced it
      - representativeness
        
        if a document isn't typical, then we can't be sure if we can generalise from it
        
        certain groups are unrepresented
        
        which documents survived
        
        surviving documents aren't always available