What are the advantages of secondary data for a sociologist?

Secondary data is cheap and quick to obtain, and often covers large numbers or long periods. Secondary data allows study of the past, such as marriage patterns a century ago.

What are the disadvantages of secondary data?

Secondary data was collected for another purpose and may not measure what the researcher needs. The data may be biased or out of date.

What is quantitative data?

Quantitative data is information in numerical form, such as percentages, rates and totals. The number of divorces each year is an example.

What is qualitative data?

Qualitative data is detailed, descriptive information in words, such as quotations from interviews. Qualitative data reveals people's feelings, meanings and experiences.

AQA GCSE Sociology 8192

The Sociological Approach

Topic overview Key sociological concepts Sociological perspectives: consensus and conflict Durkheim, Marx and Weber How sociological knowledge develops

Families

Topic overview Functions of families Family forms and diversity Conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour Changing relationships within families Criticisms of families Divorce in Britain since 1945

Education

Topic overview Roles and functions of education Education, capitalism and the correspondence principle Class and gender differences in achievement Ethnicity, parental choice and school markets Processes within schools

Crime and Deviance

Topic overview Social construction of crime and deviance Formal and informal social control Explanations of criminal behaviour Patterns of crime and public debates Crime statistics and the dark figure

Social Stratification

Topic overview Functionalist theory of stratification Marx, Weber and socio-economic class Factors affecting life chances Poverty as a social issue Forms of power and authority Power relationships

Research Methods

Topic overview Research design, hypotheses and data analysis Sampling methods Questionnaires and interviews Observation and mixed methods Types of data and official statistics Reliability, validity, ethics and practical issues

Research Methods

Types of data and official statistics

3 things to know
Papers 1 and 2

Overview

Primary and secondary, quantitative and qualitative data, positivism and interpretivism, official and non-official statistics, the census, documents and content analysis.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is secondary data, and why is it useful to sociologists?

Key term

What is primary data?

Key term

What is secondary data?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is primary data?
Model answer
Primary data is information collected first-hand by the researcher for their own study. Questionnaires, interviews and observation all produce primary data.
2
What is secondary data?
Model answer
Secondary data is information that already exists, collected by someone else for another purpose. Official statistics, newspapers and diaries are secondary sources.
3
What are the advantages of secondary data for a sociologist?
Model answer
Secondary data is cheap and quick to obtain, and often covers large numbers or long periods. Secondary data allows study of the past, such as marriage patterns a century ago.
4
What are the disadvantages of secondary data?
Model answer
Secondary data was collected for another purpose and may not measure what the researcher needs. The data may be biased or out of date.
5
What is quantitative data?
Model answer
Quantitative data is information in numerical form, such as percentages, rates and totals. The number of divorces each year is an example.
6
What is qualitative data?
Model answer
Qualitative data is detailed, descriptive information in words, such as quotations from interviews. Qualitative data reveals people's feelings, meanings and experiences.

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The Sociological Approach

Families

Education

Crime and Deviance

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A communist society would follow.

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AONS figures show that divorces rose briefly after the Second World War.

BDivorces then climbed steeply from 1971 and peaked in 1993.

CONS figures put the number at about 80,000 in 2022, after a long fall.

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Monogamy means marriage to only one partner at a time.

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