Official Statistics

• Official Statistics

  Quantitative data which has been gained by official bodies, and is used as secondary data.
• Practical Advantages

  Data is collected at regular intervals which allows for trends and patterns to be seen over time- allowing the production of cause-and-effect relationships. This method is then favoured by Positivists.
• Practical Disadvantages

  The operationalised variables may not align with the sociologist; also these definitions may alter over time which then makes comparison more difficult. Additionally, the data is collected by the government, for their own purposes.
• Highly Representative

  Often cover large numbers of the population, though some are only based on a relevant proportion.
• Reliability

  The data is collected in a standardised way, by trained staff which makes it overly reliable.
• Validity - The Dark Figure

  Hard statistics (reporting of births) are often accurate; though soft statistics (reporting crimes) are often less accurate. Attempts have been made to compensate for this by using self-report techniques. When data from official statistics is compared to the self-reports, its obvious that official statistics overestimate the 'real' rate of crime.
• Construct or Ideology

  Positivists, like Durkheim, see statistics as valuable resources, taking them as 'social facts'; believing that they are true and objective measures.

  Interpretists regard them as lacking validity, arguing they are socially constructed- only representative of the labels given given to behaviours by a minority. Statistics then shouldn't be taken at face value, instead researchers should look at how they are constructed.
• Construct or Ideology

  Marxists, like Irvine, see them as serving the interests of capitalism; the statistics that the state produces are a part of the ruling-class ideology. They are there to help maintain the rule of the capitalist class. For example, unemployment statistics the state produce, regularly change the definition of unemployment which reduces the numbers annually. This then disguises the true level of unemployment.