Official Statistics

Official Statistics

1. What?

   • Source of secondary data and are easily available to sociologists as they already exist.
   • Statistics produced and published by the government and its agencies and are collected through government surveys, registration and record keeping
   • E.g. Crime rate, divorce rate, birth rate, school GCSE pass rate, domestic violence rate, death rate, suicide rate

2. Theoretical view on OS

   • Positivists argue that OS are objective facts. Can be used to test hypothesis
     • E.g. Durkheim collected data about suicide rates and the membership of different religions. Correlation btw particular religion and a high suicide rate. Use of official statistics.
   • Interpretivists say OS are meaningless. They are labels given to social "actors" and lack validity
     • E.g. Atkinson studied suicide rates and found that the statistics given for suicide were based on the coroners and doctors opinions and simply showed social construction.

3. Perspective view on OS

   • Marxists dislike OS as they believe they are part of the ruling class ideology. Maintain class inequality.
   • Feminists dislike OS because it doesn't tell us the true perception of women e.g. domestic violence
   • PM reject OS because it doesn't tell us about the individual

4. Strengths

   • They are readily available as trained staff have already collected the data--> convenient
   • They cover a wide range of subjects in detail
   • They cover large populations, so are usually representative
   • They are generally reliable/consistent as they are carried out by trained staff in a standardised way
   • They enable comparisons to be made over time --> trends and patterns e.g. demography

5. Weaknesses

   • Hard statistics are more valid than soft statistics. E.g. Birth rate vs crime rate
   • They're not always valid as some things are not recorded and "dark" figures may not be recorded
   • Not always reliable because some people make mistakes when filling out surveys and people may miss out information
   • Data may have been altered/ manipulated for political purposes to try and cover up the true figure --> sensitive subjects such as domestic violence or unemployment
   • Definitions may change over time --> not operationalised