Official statistics sociology. Sociology 2022-12-15
Official statistics sociology
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Assess The Usefulness Of Official Statistics In Sociological Research
No doubt there are further strengths and limitations, but this is something for you to be going on with at least… Related Posts Join 6,079 other subscribers. Descriptive Statistics The descriptive statistics are used to summarize a given set of data set; this can be a representation of the entire work sample or a given part of it. Line graphs showcase the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. There are two basic measures through which the descriptive statistics are measured; they are central tendency and variability. The case of dependent and independent variables is very important to understand as they tend to decide the course over which the experiment will go.
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Official statistics
Practical Disadvantages Even though these statistics are free, they are far from cheap to collect. There should be a proper scale to the graph along with an index. For a simple definition: According to the Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology 2006, p. Furthermore, official statistics can be manipulated for the government's political advantage e. The elementary function of a frequency distribution is to provide information regarding the number of occurrences of a given set of values numeric over a given period of time.
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Official Statistics Sociology
They also allow the research to remain detached so there is less room for the subjective bias of the researcher to interfere with the research process. For instance, certain ethnic groups are over-represented in prisons, suggesting they commit more crime; however, the statistics do not consider systemic issues like racial profiling and selective stop and search programmes. How useful are official statistics for understanding differences in educational achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity? The standard deviation is the square root of the variance. For instance, legislation which made divorce easier was accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of divorces during those same years. Through them, sociologists have access to a wide range of data that they would be unable to collect themselves due to a lack of resources and time constraints. There are two basic measures through which the descriptive statistics are measured; they are central tendency and variability.
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AQA AS Sociology
Due to this, official statistics are often used in sociological research. Sociological perspectives on official statistics As well as general advantages and disadvantages we can consider how different types of sociologists view the use of official statistics in sociological research. Official statistics in sociological research It is clear that official statistics can be very valuable in sociological research. Crime statistics are a good example of this — certain crimes are notorious for being under-reported to the police — such as Rape and Domestic Violence for example. The Census in 2011 cost hundreds of million pounds to produce.
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Official Statistics in Sociology
For example, they way the Police Recorded Crimes changed twice in 2000s. There is no need for any prior knowledge so it is understood by a larger group of people. The graph should be made in the simplest manner as possible as it increases the probability of people to understand. If one gets a 0 as a Pearson coefficient then there is no relation between the data, a number above 0 indicates a positive relationship whereas a number below 0 showcases a negative relationship. .
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Official Statistics
Marxists argue that Corporate Crime and Financial Crimes of elites are not focused on by the government, while Feminists argue that domestic violence is not taken seriously by the state. Official Statistics are more likely to shared with the public because they are paid for by taxes. The data can be measured by interpreting the shape of the curve which can tell the observer as to how the data is being managed. Crime statistics on their own do not tell us much about those who commit crimes, and neither do they inform us about the victims of crime. Due to this, official statistics are often used in sociological research. Official Statistics are favoured by Positivists because they allow us to spot trends, find correlations and make generalisations.
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Official Statistics and Family Sociology on JSTOR
Marxist and Feminist Sociologists argue that official statistics serve the interests of elite groups — Data is only collected on things which do not harm those in power. Both central and local governments make use of census data to create and enact social policies in areas like education, housing, Furthermore, census data is useful because it surveys the whole population. This is especially important when researchers intend to make comparisons. There are many reasons sociologists opt to use official statistics in sociological research, and this will be the focus of this explanation. However, when combined with in-depth Official statistics: advantages and disadvantages in sociological research It is important for sociologists to assess practical and theoretical considerations when using official statistics in research. It helps sort data in a way through which patterns may be observed and analysis with coherence to the hypothesis may be made.
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Official Statistics on Educational Achievement in the U.K.
There are both hard and soft statistics. A disadvantage of official statistics, and all secondary sources, is that the data was collected by somebody else for a different reason and the researcher has no control over the original data collection. For instance, certain ethnic groups are over-represented in prisons, suggesting they commit more crime; however, the statistics do not consider systemic issues like racial profiling and selective stop and search programmes. Furthermore, official statistics can be manipulated for the government's political advantage e. This is especially important when researchers intend to make comparisons.
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Official Statistics
Do you consider the government a reliable source of data? Theoretical Disadvantages Some Official Statistics lack validity. Official Statistics are collected for administrative purposes rather than for research purposes. Marxist perspective Marxists do not trust official statistics, as they are constructed to uphold and protect the ruling class Official statistics protect the interests of the powerful and wealthy and are therefore distorted reflections of society. They are often gathered on a large scale and are a major source of secondary quantitative data. Another type of official statistic is called soft statistics, e. Not all secondary data give us a valid, true and detailed picture of what is being measured, not just official statistics. Inferential Statistics It is one of the two main branches in the field of statistics.
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Sociology
On top of this, think of the time it takes other government officials to collect data. They are open to manipulation for political ends, and can be considered to have a political use. Data collection time and costs can be saved, as these already exist and are easily accessible. Using official statistics, positivists can identify trends, patterns and cause and effect relationships. The introduction of school league tables and the requirement that schools publish there results has led to more teaching the test, a decline in creativity in education, and education generally being much more stressful for both pupils and teachers. This post considers some of strengths and limitations of using official statistics in social research, focusing on practical, theoretical and ethical factors. Durkheim's work is a famous example of how sociologists can make use of official statistics to inform their research aims and questions.
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