Topic 6 - Official Statistics

• Official statistics

  Main sources are the day-to-day activities of government departments, and surveys like the Census
• Types of official statistics

  • 'Hard' statistics (simple counts that register events such as births and deaths, not easily manipulated)
  • 'Soft' statistics (more easily manipulated, e.g. crime statistics)
• Most of the strengths and weaknesses of official statistics come from the fact that they are secondary data, so the collection processes are not in the sociologist's control
• Positivists

  Start from the assumption that there is a measurable objective social reality, take a scientific approach using standardised research methods to obtain quantitative data that allows them to produce generalisations and cause-and-effect statements
• Interpretivists

  Reject the use of official statistics because they see them as socially constructed and lacking validity
• Advantages of official statistics

  • Availability (cheap, readily available, already categorised)
  • Representativeness (based on large samples, highly representative)
  • Coverage (cover most important aspects of social life)
  • Prompts to research (can reveal new patterns needing investigation)
  • Background data (provide useful background material)
  • Comparability of data (quantitative nature makes comparisons and trend identification easy)
  • Reliability (same categories and mode of collection used, publicly stated basis)
• Problems with official statistics

  • Definition and measurement (concepts used may differ from sociologists)
  • Reliability (recording errors, households missed, inaccurate completion)
  • Social construction (result of social process of negotiation, not objective truth)
  • Political bias (reflect ruling-class interests and ideology)
  • Male bias (biased against women)
• Although official statistics are open to political manipulation, the way they are collected is open to public scrutiny so this manipulation can be identified
• Positivists often present official statistics as 'social facts', but interpretivists see them as social constructs, not true representations of reality
• 'Hard' statistics are less socially constructed and more accurate, because they are simple counts of events (such as births and deaths). However, 'soft' statistics (such as crime or unemployment statistics) are less reliable and less valid because they are more easily manipulated politically or are the outcome of interactions and labelling