Types of Data Lesson Objectives 1 To learn

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

How do sociologists know ◦ Statistics Interpretation - factual ◦ Theories Understanding ◦ Studies Reinforce what they know? ◦ 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

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

Quantitative data Data in the form of numbers e. g. 26% of 16 -24 year olds in England 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

Primary Sources Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Questionnaires Participant Observation Structured Interviews Unstructured Interviews Secondary Sources Official Statistics Letters, newspaper articles How about the following? : Examples a) b) c) d) e) f) Diaries Websites Opinion Polls Photographs Experiments Historical Documents

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

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

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

Which is an example of validity and which of reliability? – give a reason for your answers 1. 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. 2. 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

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

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

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

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 Brotherefore 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

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

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

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