TYPES OF DATA SOCIOLOGY

Sociology

What is primary data?

• information which was not present before the research began

• produced by the researcher first hand durinfg the actual study

e.g Questionnaires, interviews, observations

Evaluations of primary data?

• the sociologist will be able to gather precisely the info that they need to test their hypothesis

• gathering primary data can be time consuming and expensive

What is secondary data?

• data that already exists

.e.g. data from historica records, officaila stats, government reports, newspapeers, diaries, autobiographies

Evaluations forr secondary data?

• quick and cheap way of doing research

• the research may have been produced for different reasons than what the sociologist needs it for.

  • no way for the researcher to ensure the reliabilty and validity of the research

What is quantitative data?

• info in numerical form which can be subject to statistcal analysis

.e.g. -

OS stats on how many girls passed five or more GCSEs

League tables showing a schools acheivement data

The proportion of middle class young people who go to university

Evaluations of quantittative data?

• particularly usedul for measuring/quantifying the strenght of relationships between differnet factors/variables.

  • can be shown as statistics and displayed in pictorial form such as graphs, pie charts etc.

What is qualitative data?

all types of data that are not numerical

.e.g. - descdriptive data from observatons from classtoms looking at teacher and pupil interactions, quotes from interviews on how pupils feel they have been labelled, written sources on LEA policy, a newspaper article assesing the current state of education, pictures and photographs contrasting grammar school to secondary modern pupils etc.

evaluations of qualitative data?

• provides a richer and more in depth picture of social life than the statistics provided by quantitative data

  • give you a feel for what something is like

What is validity?

• data valoid if it presents a true, genuine and accurate picture, descriptuon or measurement which enables the researcher to get close to the truth

.e.g. if a sociologist captured in their research how it felt to be labelled negatively by teacher

What is reliablity?

• data is reliable when different researchers using the same methods obtain the same results - it is replicated (replica)

.e.g. if a number of researchers observe the same set in a shcool and produced the same description of the pupils behaviour, their results would be seen as being reliable

is all reliable data valid?

no