6.1.5

Secondary Sources

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Secondary Sources

Secondary sources

Secondary sources

  • These are data collected by other sociologists.
  • This makes the research cheaper as researchers have readily available data.
  • Researchers can easily triangulate information.
  • They provide easily accessible data.
Secondary sources cont.

Secondary sources cont.

  • They can be used by researchers to see any social changes that have taken place over the years.
  • They can be a good source of information by showing sociologists:
    • Examples of good practice.
    • Examples of misconduct that should be avoided.
Critical review

Critical review

  • Since all secondary sources are works by others, it is unclear how objective they are.
  • This means that all secondary sources need to be critically reviewed.
Government statistics

Government statistics

  • Even official statistics collected by the government can be biased.
  • Governments have been known to manipulate data to serve their own political agendas.
Surveys

Surveys

  • Surveys conducted by mass media might be funded by parties who have vested interest to show a manipulated reality.

Types of Secondary Source Material

Official statistics

Official statistics

  • Official statistics is data collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
  • They depict changes in the number of people living in the country, the number of marriages, divorces, crimes, suicide rates etc.
Population data

Population data

  • The census is a population survey that is conducted every ten years to identify the changes that are taking place in British society, such as birth rates, change in family types etc.
  • Demography is the study of the population.
Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW)

Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW)

  • CSEW is data collected about people’s experience of crime.
  • The difference between CSEW and official crime statistics is that CSEW collects information about crimes that haven’t been reported or recorded by the police.
  • This survey helps reveal the dark figures of crime (crimes that go unreported and unrecorded), therefore gives a more accurate picture of the true level of crime.
Historical documents

Historical documents

  • Historical documents are useful in depicting changes in marriage and family types.
  • These are more widely found in local church records.
  • Raw census data is released 100 years after recording.
Life histories

Life histories

  • Letters and diaries that include personal details and accounts of people’s daily lives.
  • In Young and Willmott's study of 'Symmetrical Family', they used diary notes that they had asked their participants to take.
Mass media

Mass media

  • Radio and TV broadcasts, magazines and newspapers are archived.
  • This means that they can be a valuable source of data.
  • Their content analysis can give sociologists a source of up-to-date data.
Jump to other topics
1

The Sociological Approach

1.1

Introduction to Sociology

1.1.1What is Sociology?1.1.2Culture & Socialisation
1.2

Sociological Approaches

1.2.1Marxism1.2.2Marxism 21.2.3Functionalism1.2.4Feminism
1.3

The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate

1.3.1The Consensus vs. Conflict Debate1.3.2End of Topic Test - The Sociological Approach
2

Families

2.1

Functions of Families

2.1.1Functionalist Views on Family2.1.2Marxist Views on Family2.1.3Feminist Views on Family
2.2

Family Forms

2.2.1What is a Family?2.2.2Nuclear Family2.2.3Families in a Global Context2.2.4The Rapoports & Family Diversity2.2.5Causes of Family Diversity2.2.6End of Topic Test - Family Forms
2.3

Conjugal Role Relationships

2.3.1Conjugal Roles
2.4

Changing Relationships Within Families

2.4.1Timeline2.4.2Domestic Abuse2.4.3Symmetrical Family
2.5

Criticisms of Families

2.5.1Functionalist Views of Families2.5.2Marxist Views of Families2.5.3Feminist Views of Families2.5.4Declining Marriage Rate2.5.5End of Topic Test - Criticisms of Families
2.6

Divorce

2.6.1Reasons For Rise in Divorce Rate2.6.2Consequences of Divorce2.6.3Functionalist Views2.6.4Marxist Views2.6.5Feminist Views2.6.6End of Topic Test - Divorce
3

Education

3.1

Roles & Functions of Education

3.1.1The Functionalist Approach3.1.2Evaluating Different Perspectives3.1.3Types of School3.1.4Alternative Education3.1.5State & Private Schools
3.2

Processes Within Schools

3.2.1Internal Processes3.2.2External Processes
3.3

Educational Achievement

3.3.1Measuring Educational Success3.3.2Social Class & Education3.3.3Social Class & External Factors3.3.4Gender & Education3.3.5Ethnicity & Education3.3.6Parental Choice3.3.7History of UK Education Policy3.3.8Recent UK Education Policy3.3.9End of Topic Test - Education
4

Crime & Deviance

4.1

The Social Construction of Crime

4.1.1Defining Crime & Deviance4.1.2Sociological Explanations of Crime4.1.3Interactionist Explanations of Crime4.1.4Alternative Explanations of Crime
4.2

Social Control

4.2.1Informal Social Control4.2.2Formal Social Control4.2.3End of Topic Test - Social Construction of Crime
4.3

Criminal & Deviant Behaviour

4.3.1Explanations of Crime4.3.2Social Class & Crime4.3.3Gender & Crime4.3.4Ethnicity & Crime4.3.5Age & Crime4.3.6Criminal Responsibility4.3.7The Prison System4.3.8Media Reporting of Crime4.3.9Functionalist Explanations of Crime
4.4

Data on Crime

4.4.1Measuring Crime4.4.2End of Topic Test - Criminal & Deviant Behaviour
5

Social Stratification

5.1

Social Stratification

5.1.1What is Social Stratification?5.1.2Functionalism5.1.3Socio-Economic Class5.1.4Socio-Economic Class 25.1.5Life Chances5.1.6The Affluent Worker5.1.7End of Topic Test - Social Stratifictaion
5.2

Poverty as a Social Issue

5.2.1Defining Poverty5.2.2Factors Affecting Poverty5.2.3Explanations of Poverty5.2.4Impact of Globalisation5.2.5End of Topic Test - Poverty as a Social Issue
5.3

Power & Authority

5.3.1Weber5.3.2Sociological Perspectives5.3.3Power Relationships5.3.4End of Topic Test - Power & Authority
6

Sociological Research Methods

6.1

Research Methods

6.1.1Research Design6.1.2The Scientific Method6.1.3Other Considerations6.1.4Primary Sources6.1.5Secondary Sources6.1.6Surveys6.1.7Sampling6.1.8Questionnaires6.1.9Interviews6.1.10Observation6.1.11Statistics6.1.12Case Studies6.1.13Longitudinal Studies6.1.14Ethnography6.1.15Experiments6.1.16Small Scale Research6.1.17End of Topic Test - Research Methods

Practice questions on Secondary Sources

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    Governments have been known to manipulate data to serve their own political agendas. Therefore, even statistics collected by the government can be:Multiple choice
  2. 2
    What is the study of the population called?Multiple choice
  3. 3
    What is the Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW)?True / false
  4. 4
    Who is responsible for collecting official statistics?Multiple choice
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Primary Sources

Surveys