Download Secondary sources of data

SECONDARY SOURCES OF
DATA
What types of secondary sources of data are available to
Sociologists?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using
secondary sources of data?
Starter
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Work on your own to complete as many of the
sentences as you can.
Solution
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Interviews can be structured, unstructured and group
A research method which involves taking part in the activities of the group you are studying
is participant observation.
Data in numerical form is quantitative.
How many respondents get back to you through a questionnaire is known as the response
rate.
Questions in which the range of responses is fixed by the researcher are called closed
ended questions.
Data produced first hand by the researchers themselves is known as primary data.
When the researcher tells the respondents that they are being observed, this is known as
overt research.
Postal, self-completed and hand-delivered are all types of questionnaires.
In an interview, the list of questions read out by the researcher is called the interview
schedule
You carry out research to collect data or information.
The observation which the researcher carries out in secret is known as covert.
The types of questions that allow the respondent to answer in their own words are known as
open ended questions.
Data which already exists because someone else has gathered it is called secondary data.
Objectives
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All to be able to describe different type of
qualitative and quantitative sources of secondary
data.
Most to be able to outline the advantages and
disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative
sources of secondary data.
Home learning
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2.
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Revise for the exam.
The mock exam is on Tuesday, 24. May 2011 – the 3rd
lesson from today. It will be on all three topics –
Families, Education and Studying Society.
The real exam is in only 6 lesson’s time on
Wednesday, 15. June 2011.
Revision guides are still available. Pay £1 to Student
services, get a receipt and collect the revision guide
from Mrs Magner or Mrs Ludlow.
Secondary sources of data
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Secondary data is information that already exists
because someone else has gathered it, but
Sociologists can use it in their research.
Secondary sources of data can be
Quantitative
gathered by the government
and other researchers and
expressed in statistical form,
e.g. official statistics such as
crime rates, birth and death
rates, divorce rates, exam
results, etc.
Qualitative
written by other people
and expressed in words
such as personal diaries
and letters, emails,
photographs, novels,
newspaper articles, etc.
Task 1
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One side of the classroom will research quantitative
secondary source of data, the other will research
qualitative secondary source of data.
Use the textbook, pages 36 - 41, read the
appropriate section and fill in the worksheet.
You can work in pairs to help each other out.
You have 10 minutes.
Type
Definition
Examples
Quantitative
Qualitative
Statistics which already exist because
they have been collected by other
researchers and the government.
Already exist because they have
been collected by other researchers.
They are expressed in words.
Birth, death, marriage and divorce
rates as well as crime rates,
unemployment rates and exam results.
Personal documents including letters, diaries and
photographs. Public documents such as novels,
biographies and governments documents. Mass media
products such as TV documentaries, internet blogs and
websites, newspaper articles.
1.
2.
Advantages
3.
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Disadvantages
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Cheap and easy to get as they already exist.
Allow sociologists to make comparisons
between the past and present to show social
change.
Sociologists can use the official statistics to
make comparisons with the results of their own
primary research, e.g. If researching the link
between gender and achievement, statistics
can show who does better, girls or boys.
1. Sociologists can use them as research
before they start their own primary
research. For example, when
researching schools, sociologists can
read the school’s website, prospectus,
Ofsted report and exam league
tables.
Statistics may not be fully accurate, e.g. divorce
statistics do not include people in empty shell
marriages so they do not tell us the whole picture of
marital breakdown.
Not all statistics are fully accurate, such as crime rates
– their accuracy is affected by the way they are
collected, e.g. not all crimes are reported to the
police. These are called soft statistics.
Statistics show us how people behave, but do not
explain why they behave the way they do.
1. Personal documents may be
difficult to get hold of, e.g.
people may not want others to
read their diary.
2. Public documents may have been
forged so they would not be
valid.
Quantitative secondary sources of
data
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Quantitative secondary sources of data include statistics
which already exist because they have been collected
by other researchers and the government.
Official statistics are collected by the government and
published annually. Anyone can access them online for
free. They include birth, death, marriage and divorce
rates as well as crime rates, unemployment rates and
exam results.
The government collects such statistics through the
Census, but also through the police (when crimes are
reported) as well as by people having to register
births, marriages, etc.
Advantages and disadvantages of
quantitative secondary sources of data
Advantages
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Cheap and easy to get as they
already exist.
Allow sociologists to make
comparisons between the past
and present to show social
change.
Sociologists can use the official
statistics to make comparisons
with the results of their own
primary research, e.g. If
researching the link between
gender and achievement,
statistics can show who does
better, girls or boys.
Disadvantages
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Statistics may not be fully accurate,
e.g. divorce statistics do not include
people in empty shell marriages so
they do not tell us the whole picture
of marital breakdown.
The very accurate figures, such as
birth rates, are referred to as hard
statistics. However, not all statistics
are fully accurate, such as crime
rates – their accuracy is affected by
the way they are collected, e.g. not
all crimes are reported to the police.
These are called soft statistics.
Statistics show us how people
behave, but do not explain why they
behave the way they do.
Qualitative secondary sources of data
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a)
b)
c)
Qualitative secondary sources of data already exist
because they have been collected by other
researchers. They are expressed in words.
Examples include:
Personal documents including letters, diaries and
photographs.
Public documents such as novels, biographies and
governments documents.
Mass media products such as TV documentaries,
internet blogs and websites, newspaper articles.
Advantages and disadvantages of
qualitative secondary sources of data
Advantages
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Sociologists can use them as
research before they start their
own primary research. For
example, if white sociologists
were to research the Bengali
community in East London, it
might be useful for them to read
‘Brick Lane’ by Monica Ali, a
novel about the Bengali
community. Also, when
researching schools, sociologists
can read the school’s website,
prospectus, Ofsted report and
exam league tables.
Disadvantages
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Personal documents
may be difficult to get
hold of, e.g. people
may not want others to
read their diary.
Historical documents
may have been forged
so they would not be
valid.
Task 2
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Work in pairs to complete the worksheet using these
words:
valid
diaries
generalise
exam
death
time
available
birth
numerical
TV
reasons
correlations (links)
why
newspaper
Task 3
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Work on your own to answer this exam question.
You have been asked as a sociologist to investigate the
division of housework and childcare amongst married and
cohabiting couples today.
Identify one secondary source you might use and explain
why it would help. (4 marks)
One secondary source of data I could use to investigate the
division of housework and childcare amongst married and
cohabiting couples is...
. This is a...
It would help because...
3. Write about its advantage, but
make sure to link it with the topic of
the research.
1. Name one type of
secondary data.
2. Define that type
of secondary data.
Possible answer
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One secondary source of data I could use to investigate
the division of housework and childcare amongst
married and cohabiting couples is the woman’s personal
diary. This is a qualitative source of secondary data
written by a participant.
It would help because it would be a valid source of
research before I start my own primary research
through, e.g. Interviews with the couples. This is because
it may show who does more housework in the woman’s
opinion as she may write about it in her diary.
Key concepts in Sociology
– society, culture,
subculture, norms and
values, socialisation,
social role and status
Secondary sources
of data
The research process –
aims, hypothesis and pilot
study, data analysis and
evaluation
Types of data – primary,
secondary, qualitative and
quantitative data and
reliability, validity and
objectivity
Longitudinal
studies
Ethical issues
Sampling methods
Observations
How can Sociology
influence social policy?
Questionnaires
Interviews
Revision and End of
unit assessment –
mock exam
Plenary – true or false?
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Official statistics provide qualitative data. False
If a method is reliable, it means it can easily be repeated by
another researcher. True
Diaries, TV programmes and newspaper articles are types of
secondary qualitative data. True
Birth and marriage rates are more valid than crime rates. True
Being objective means to be biased. False
Valid data is data that shows us what something is really like. True
Quantitative methods require the researcher to have excellent
inter-personal skills. False
Questionnaires are a secondary research method. False