topic 2: secondary data

Question 1

advantages of secondary data

Answer 1

helps identify gaps in existing research

saves time and money

often bigger data sets than primary research

allows comparisons across time to be made

Question 2

disadvantages of secondary data

Answer 2

validity is uncertain

may be out of date

may be difficult to find the specific research you need

Question 3

define official statistics

Answer 3

quantitative numerical data collected by the government usually via ONS

• census (1851)
• General Household Survey
• Family Expenditure Survey
• Labour Force Survey

Question 4

advantages of official statistics

Answer 4

• provide large scale, expensive, time consuming data that would otherwise be unavailable
• reliable
• representative

Question 5

disadvantages of official statistics

Answer 5

• different governments define terms differently (trends might be result of changing definitions)
• interpretivists: lacking validity

Question 6

define unofficial statistics

Answer 6

quantitative data collected by independent non governmental organisations (employers, trade unions, political parties, think tanks)

• University of Sussex: Mass Observation archive

Question 7

advantages of unofficial statistics

Answer 7

usually representative

positivists: reliable bc they’re collected in a systematic, standardised, scientific way

Question 8

disadvantages of unofficial statistics

Answer 8

not as reliable as official stats bc less strict checks?

interpretivists: lack validity, no depth or detail

Question 9

define personal documents

Answer 9

sources of qualitative info like letters, diaries, photos, novels, newspapers

Question 10

advantages of personal documents

Answer 10

• interpretivists: highly valid
• more detail, broad insight into specific area of research

Question 11

disadvantages of personal documents

Answer 11

low reliability: difficult to make clear comparisons

low representativeness (/validity potentially)

Question 12

define content analysis

Answer 12

systematically studying the content of documents or the media (TV, films, letters, radio etc) producing both qualitative and quantitative data

Question 13

advantages of content analysis

Answer 13

practical and cheap

representative, can be very large scale

allows comparison over long periods of time, can be longitudinal

reliable (results can be repeated and cross-checked)

Question 14

disadvantages of content analysis

Answer 14

CAN be time consuming

risk of subjectivity, bias, value imposition

only shows views of those who create the media (not representative?)

Question 15

define longitudinal study

Answer 15

studies conducted over a long period of time with the sample being visited more than once

Question 16

name the two types of longitudinal study

Answer 16

panel

cohort

Question 17

define panel study

Answer 17

often randomly selected national sample

generalised generic aims to monitor long term changes of a population

Question 18

define cohort study

Answer 18

More specific, less generic aims

studying a specific cohort of people (e.g. people with a certain disease or of a certain age) rather than randomised general populations

Question 19

advantages of longitudinal study

Answer 19

practical and cheap when used as secondary data

high in validity

representative in terms of time

Question 20

disadvantages of longitudinal studies

Answer 20

time consuming and expensive

small samples that may change overtime — lack of representativeness and consistency?