Types of data

• Primary data

  Informatio collected by the sociologist first-hand for their own hypothesis and research.
• Methods of getting primary data

  • Social surveys - asking people questions in a written questionnaire or interview.
  • Participant observation - sociologist joins in with the group they are studying
  • Experiments - mainly field experiments
• Secondary data

  Information collected or created by someone else for their own purposes that a sociologist uses for their study.
• Types of secondary data

  • Official statistics - produced by the government or other organisations.
  • Documents - such as newspapers and the internet.
• Primary data pros and cons

  • Pros - precise information tailored for their research.
  • Cons - time consuming and costly.
• Secondary data pros and cons

  • Cons - may not produce the exact data needed.
  • Pros - easily accessible as it is cheap and available online.
• Quantitative data

  Information in numerical form.

  Example - statistics on girls GCSE attainment.
• Qualitative data 


  Information that gives us a feel of what something is like.

  Emotive information.

  Provides rich descriptions of certain experiences.