The strengths and limitations of different secondary sources of data, including official
statistics, personal documents, digital content and media sources.
What are Official Statistics?
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Official statistics are data collected by governments or other official bodies.
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They are an example of secondary quantitative data used by sociologists to examine
trends and patterns within and between societies.
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Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else for a different
purpose.
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Official statistics are often collected for administrative or policy purposes, but they
can also be used for research purposes.
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Patterns of behaviour may be picked up by statistical analysis because they provide a
broad overview of behaviour across potentially wide areas: local, national and
international. For instance Durkheim (1897), identified distinct patterns to suicidal
behaviour based on comparative analysis of official suicide statistics across a range of
different societies.
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Statistics can be used for comparisons within groups, such as differences in middleand working –class family size, and between societies.
Strengths of official statistics
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Reliability: Official statistics are generally considered to be reliable, as they are collected
by trained professionals using standardized methods.
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Accuracy: Official statistics are often collected using standardized methods, which can
help to ensure their accuracy and reliability. .
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Scope: Official statistics are often collected on a large scale, which can give researchers a
good overview of a particular population or issue.
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Representativeness: They cover a wide range of topics, from crime rates to health
indicators to economic to marriages, births and divorces.
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Timeliness: Statistics are often published on a regular basis, which allows sociologists to
track trends over time. Thus data can be used to understand how something has changed.
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Cost-effectiveness: Official statistics are often free or low-cost to access.
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Accessibility: Official statistics are often available online or in libraries.
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Comparison: Statistics can be used for comparisons within groups, such as differences in
middle- and working-class family size and between societies.
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In addition, data that would be difficult to collect, such as statistics on marriage, divorce or
crime is readily available, especially since the development of the internet.
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Such data which have high a high level of accuracy and cannot be doubted are known as
‘hard statistics’ e.g. statistics about the number of divorces in a society can be viewed as
‘hard statistics,’ because a divorce has to be legally registered, and clear and accurate
records are available.
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Statistics that are considered to be less accurate are referred to as ‘soft statistics’. E.g.
unemployment rate because there are different ways of defining ‘unemployment’.
Limitations of official statistics
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Bias: Official statistics can be biased, as they may be collected for political or other
reasons.
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Incompleteness: Official statistics may not be complete, as some people may choose not
to participate in surveys or other data collection activities.
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Interpretability: Official statistics can be difficult to interpret, as they may use complex
terminology or be based on complex calculations.
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Time lag: Official statistics can often be out of date by the time they are published.
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Inaccuracy: Official statistics can be inaccurate due to errors in data collection or
reporting. Not all information may be available to those collecting the statistics. E.g.
crimes that are not reported or recorded and these are known as ‘dark figure’ such crimes
include rape, gender based violence and so on.
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Statistical data: Statistical figures do not reveal much about the reasons for people’s
behaviour. E.g. reasons about why people kill each.
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Not all information may be available to those collecting the statistics. For instance, while
official crime statistics provide valuable data about crimes reported to the police, they tell
us little or nothing about the “dark figure of crime”- crimes that are not reported or
recorded.
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Statistical data do not reveal much about the reasons for people’s behaviour. E.g. even
though the number of murders is provided on yearly basis, these do not give reasons why
people kill each other.
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Interpretation: Although quantitative data is normally considered more objective than
qualitative data, its significance must always be interpreted by researchers who decide
what the data means. E.g. A statistical rise in crime may be the result of:
 A real rise
 A different way of defining and counting crime.
 Police targeting certain types of crime and arresting more people.
What are Personal Documents?
-Are secondary source of data covering areas such as personal letters, diaries, oral (verbal)
histories, websites, social networking sites and photographs
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-Personal documents are a type of qualitative data that can be used in research methods.
-They are written accounts of personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings.
-Personal documents can include diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies, and other forms
of self-expression.
-They can also include media such as newspapers, books and moving images.
-They can provide insights into the individual's perspective on a particular issue or event.
-Personal documents can also be used to track changes over time in an individual's life or
thought process.
-A psychologist might use personal documents to study the development of a child's
personality.
Advantages of Personal Documents, Media and Digital Content
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Rich Detail: Personal documents can provide a rich and detailed account of an
individual's life. E.g. diaries such as those of Samuel Pepys, who recorded life in
England during the 1660s or Anne Frank, who recorded her life in hiding from the
Nazi in Amsterdam, during the Second World War.
Insights: Personal documents can be used to gain insights into the individual's
thoughts, feelings, and motivations. E.g. sociologist might use personal documents to
study the experiences of people who have been through a traumatic event, such as a
natural disaster or a war.
Track changes: Personal documents can be used to track changes over time in an
individual's life or thought process.
Access: It gives the researcher access to data that would cost a lot of money, time and
effort to collect personally.
Secondary data: They can provide secondary data in situations where it is not
possible to collect primary data about things that happened in the past. E.g. A
historian might use personal documents to study the social and cultural history of a
particular period.
Limitations of personal documents
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Bias: Personal documents can be biased. The individual may be trying to present themselves
in a certain way, or they may not be able to remember events accurately.
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Representativeness: Personal documents may not be representative of the general
population. The individual's experiences may be unique to them, or they may not be
representative of the experiences of others.
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Interpretability: Personal documents can be difficult to interpret. The individual may use
language that is unclear or ambiguous, or they may not provide enough detail to fully
understand their experiences..
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Availability: They are not always easy to find. Paper documents can be faked and a
researcher needs to know whether they are originals or copies that might have been changed
by other authors.
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Documents offer reliability problems in that they may be:
 Incomplete
 Inaccurate
Advantages of digital and media
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Comparison: It is possible to compare accounts across time to test their validity of
current accounts of social behaviour. E.g. Pearson (1983) used media accounts going
back over 100 years to demonstrate that violent ‘hooligan” or “yobbish” behaviour is
not a recent phenomenon in the UK.
Analysis: Documents can also be analysed by comparing what they actually say
(their literal meaning) and their hidden meaning meanings – what they tell us about
the hopes, fears and beliefs of whoever produced them. E.g. Newspaper articles may
tell us more about their writers and how they see social problems than they do about
the topic of the article
Efficiency: Digital and media technologies can help researchers to collect and
analyse data more efficiently. For example, researchers can use online surveys to
collect data from a large number of people quickly and easily.
Accuracy: Digital and media technologies can help researchers to collect more
accurate data. For example, researchers can use digital cameras to take high-quality
photos and videos of research participants.
Reach: Digital and media technologies can help researchers to reach a wider
audience with their research. For example, researchers can publish their research
findings on social media or in online journals.
Limitations of digital and media
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Bias: Digital and media technologies can be biased. For example, online surveys may be
biased towards people who have access to the internet.
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Privacy: Digital and media technologies can raise privacy concerns. For example,
researchers need to be careful about how they collect and store data collected from
research participants.
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Cost: Digital and media technologies can be expensive. For example, researchers may
need to purchase specialized software or hardware to collect and analyse data.
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Digital sources can be subject to change: old websites become inaccessible while others
may become updated soon so that original content is lost. Some sources may become
harder to access as technologies become no longer used.
Examples of how digital and media can be used in research
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Online surveys: Online surveys can be used to collect data from a large number of people
quickly and easily.
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Social media: Social media can be used to reach a wider audience with research findings
and to collect data from research participants.
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Digital cameras: Digital cameras can be used to take high-quality photos and videos of
research participants.
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Digital video recorders: Digital video recorders can be used to record interviews with
research participants.
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Online journals: Online journals can be used to publish research findings and to make
them available to a wider audience.
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