1. Types of Data Lesson Objectives:
To learn about the different types of data that sociologists use to understand the social world

2. Introduction How do sociologists know what they know? Statistics
Interpretation - factual
Theories
Understanding
Studies
Reinforce
The purpose of sociology is to answer questions about social life and the social world
Why do middle class children generally do better?
What causes divorce?
How far do the mass media influence people’s behaviour?
Introduction
We need to consider how we can obtain information about society

3. Primary and secondary data
Primary data
Information that was not present before the research began  generated by the researcher. It includes data produced by questionnaires, interviews and observations
Secondary data
Refers to data which already exists. Includes data from historical records, official statistics, government reports, diaries, autobiographies, novels, newspapers, films and recorded music
Primary and secondary data

4. Quantitative and qualitative data
Quantitative data
Data in the form of numbers e.g. 26% of year olds in England and Wales had taken cannabis in the past year. This is particularly useful for measuring the strength of relationships between various factors.
The example above would be useful for measuring relationships between age and illegal drug use.
Qualitative data
Refers to all data not in the form of numbers – includes descriptive data from observations, quotes from interviews, written sources, pictures, films and recorded music.
This type of data can often provide a richer and more in-depth picture of social life than the numbers provided by quantitative data.
Quantitative and qualitative data

5. Examples Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Primary Sources
Questionnaires
Participant Observation
Structured Interviews
Unstructured Interviews
Secondary Sources
Official Statistics
Letters, newspaper articles
How about the following?:
Diaries
Websites
Opinion Polls
Photographs
Experiments
Historical Documents
Examples

6. ‘Explain the difference between qualitative data and quantitative data’
You should only spend around 5 minutes on this question
4 mark question

7. Validity and reliability
Validity Data is valid if it presents a true and accurate description or measurement e.g. official statistics on crime are valid if they provide an accurate measurement of the extent of crime. Reliability Data is reliable when different researchers using the same methods obtain the same results e.g. if a number of researchers observed the same crowd at the same sporting event and produced the same description of crowd behaviour, then their account would be reliable – however, reliable data may not be valid e.g. the crowd was at a baseball match in the USA and the sociologists were English and know nothing the sport…the observations of the crowd’s behaviour would be invalid.
Validity and reliability

8. ‘Explain the difference between validity and reliability’
You should only spend around 5 minutes on this question
4 mark question

9. Validity and Reliability
Which is an example of validity and which of reliability? – give a reason for your answers
A friend of mine was bullied at school recently. He told me in detail about his feelings at the time and afterwards. Now I really understand what it must be like.
We were all given an intelligence test every day this week. Our results were very consistent. Each of us gained the same score every time we took the test.
Validity and Reliability

10. How far the individual, group or situation being studied is typical of the rest of the population. If those being studied are typical, then we can claim that what is true of them is also true of the population.
We can generalise out findings to the greater population. The results are then said to have generalizability because they are representative of the wider population.
Representativeness

11. Are the young people caught on camera looting and vandalising in cities all over Britain representative of all young people in the UK?
If we asked them if they feel they have the right to vandalise and loot, could we generalise these findings? Could we say that they are typical opinions of all young people in the UK?
Riots: UK August 2011

12. Big Brother is a television series in which a group of people are required to live in a house together for several months. During this time all their activities and conversations are monitored. Edited versions are shown to a television audience, which then votes contestants out each week, until the last remaining ‘survivor’ is declared the winner.
Big Brother

13. Applying your knowledge
Do you think that people who live in the Big Brother household are representative of the country as a whole?
Do you think the people in the household act naturally? If not, why do they behave the way they do?
Does Big Brother therefore give a ‘true’ picture of what life would be like if a group of young people lived together?
Do you think that a lot of what goes on is ‘edited out’ by the producers? What kind of things are left out? Why?
Applying your knowledge

14. Key Terms Term Definition Data
Information collected as part of a research process
Primary data
New data produced by the researcher during the research process
Secondary data
Data that already exists which can then be used by the researcher
Quantitative data
Numerical data
Qualitative data
All other types of data that is not numeric
Validity
Data is valid if it presents a true and accurate description or measurement
Key Terms

15. Key Terms Term Definition Validity
Data is valid if it presents a true and accurate description or measurement
Reliability
Data is reliable when different researchers using the same methods obtain the same results
Representativeness
If the group being studied is typical of the rest of the population.
Key Terms

16. Types of Data Lesson Objectives:
To learn about the different types of data that sociologists use to understand the social world