Questions on Secondary Data
Look at page 124 of Sociology AS and answer these questions:
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- Why is secondary data vital in order to give a sociologist a historical perspective?
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- Public bodies keeping records have to meet targets. How might this affect validity (true to the reality) and reliability (the ability to compare data over time and place)?
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- What is contained in the publication Social Trends?
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- What is the benefit of having the same questions repeated in every census?
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Look at Page 125 and answer these questions:
- When is work done by a sociologist considered to be secondary data?
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- Which theoretical approach is used by sociologists looking at diaries?
- Who is likely to do extended writing and what issue does this raise about representativenes?
- When is a diary primary data for sociological research and when is it secondary data?
- When an autobiography is published, what category of document can it come under?
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- Why does a sociologist have to be careful about reports on the mass media to be used as secondary data?
- How can secondary research be used to convert qualitative to quantitative type data?
- In what ways should sociologists assess and evaluate secondary data?
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Explain this sentence from the textbook: The point is not whether the statistics are right or wrong, but that they result from people making sense of, and interpreting, events.
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Look at Page 124 again and answer the questions 1 and 2 in Think It Through.
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McNeill, P., Blundell, J., Griffiths, J. (2003), Sociology AS: The Complete Companion, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.