Secondary sources

Question 1

What are the two main secondary sources we can use

Answer 1

Official statistics
Documents

Question 2

What are two ways of collecting official statistics ?

Answer 2

Registration
Official surveys

Question 3

What are some practical advantages of using official statistics ?

Answer 3

They are a free source of large amounts of data
They allow for comparisons between groups
As they are collected in regular intervals they can be used to identify patterns and trends

Question 4

What are some practical disadvantages of using official statistics ?

Answer 4

The government collect statistics for its own purposes not for the use of sociologists
The government may define concepts differently to sociologists
If language/definitions change over time this may prove comparisons difficult

Question 5

What are some other issues with using official statistics ?

Answer 5

Representativeness
Reliability
Validity
The question of weather they’re facts, constructs or ideology

Question 6

What are public documents ?

Answer 6

Documents produced by organisations that are made available to anyone

Question 7

What are personal documents ?

Answer 7

Items such as, letters, diaries, photo albums, and autobiographies

Question 8

What are historical documents ?

Answer 8

A personal/public document created in the past

Question 9

What was John Scott (1990) criteria for evaluating documents ?

Answer 9

Authenticity
Credibility
Representativeness
Meaning

Question 10

What are some advantages of documents ?

Answer 10

Personal documents allow for a closeness to the reality
Documents are sometimes the only source of information
They are a cheap source of data