primary and secondary data

Primary data?

Information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes.

Which source of data are social surveys an example of?

Primary data - they involve asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview.

Which source of data is participant observation an example of?

Primary data - the sociologist joins in with the activities of the group they are studying.

Which source of data are experiments an example of?

Primary data - laboratory experiments, field experiments, and the comparative method.

Secondary data

Information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but is available for sociologists to use.

Which source of data are official statistics an example of?

Secondary data - are produced by the government e.g. statistics on crime, divorce, and unemployment.

Which source of data are documents an example of?

Secondary data - a record of information e.g. letters, emails, diaries, and photographs.

Advantage of using primary data

Sociologists can precisely gather the information they need to test their hypothesis.
specific to their research
up to date
reliability

Disadvantages of using primary data

Costly & time consuming
limited scope-small sample size
risk of bias

Advantages of using secondary data

Quick & cheap to access.
large scale data
longitudinal insights

Disadvantages of using secondary data

outdated
not created for the sociologists research purposes
biased e.g. to make the government look better
access limitations

Quantitative data

Information in numerical form e.g. statistics including percentages.

Qualitative data

Non-numerical data that is interpretation based and descriptive e.g. open-ended survey questions.

Field experiments

Are a primary source and are qualitative data.

Paintings

Are a secondary source and are qualitative data.

Exam league tables, school reports, and divorce statistics.

Are a secondary source and quantitative data.