Types of data

Types of data

1. Primary data: collected by sociologists for their own research

   • Social suverys: questionnaires and interviews
   • Participant observation
     • Sociologist joins in with who they're studying
   • Experiments
     • Labatory experiments
     • Field experiments and comparative method

2. Secondary data: information collected by another source that sociologists can use

   • Official statistics
     • Produced by government, businesses, charities
   • Documents
     • Letters, novels, diaries
     • Valid, not reliable

3. Quantitative data: written response, focused on feelings and behaviour

4. Quantitative data: numerical response, looks at patterns and trends