Official Statistics

Official Statistics

1. Registration

2. Official surveys

3. Administrative records of state agencies

4. Practical advantages

   • O.S. allow us to make comparisons between groups
   • They show trends and patterns over time
   • They are a free source of huge amounts of quantitative data

5. Practical disadvantages

   • The government creates statistics for its own purposes, not for the benefit of sociologists
   • There may be mismatches between sets of statistics
   • The definitions that the state uses in collecting data may be different from those that sociologists use
     • The state may change the definitions it uses over time

6. Theoretical issues

   • Positivism
     • Representativeness
     • Reliability
   • Interpretivism
     • Hard and soft statistics
       • Soft statistics tend to give a much less valid picture of reality
       • Hard statistics provide a more valid picture

7. Marxism

   • O.S. serve the interests of capitalism
   • The definitions used in creating O.S. also conceal the true reality of capitalism

8. Feminism

   • O.S. are regarded as 'masculine' or a patriarchal model of research
   • O.S. are created by the state, which feminists regard as maintaining patriarchal oppression
   • O.S.underestimate women's economic contribution and reflect the patriarchal nature of the state