Secondary and Official Statistics
Secondary data is data that already exists, collected by someone else for a different original purpose, which the sociologist reuses, including historical documents, diaries, media content, previous studies and official statistics.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Identify whether the source is being used as secondary data broadly, or specifically as official statistics.
- Distinguish hard statistics, fairly objective and reliable, from soft statistics, which rely more on interpretation and definition, since this affects how much the figures should be trusted.
- When asked for a strength, link it to practicality, free, quick and large-scale, or to reliability, professionally and consistently collected, allowing comparison over time.
- When asked for a limitation, link it to validity: were the statistics collected in a way that captures what the sociologist actually wants to measure, and might official definitions differ from the sociologist's own definition of the concept?
- For crime statistics specifically, be ready to explain the 'dark figure of crime', unreported and unrecorded crime that never appears in official figures, a key interactionist criticism.
- In evaluation answers, weigh the scale and reliability advantages of official statistics against the validity risk that they were compiled by someone else, for a different purpose, using someone else's definitions.
Worked example
A sociologist wants to research the number of divorces in the UK over the last 40 years. Explain why using official statistics from the Office for National Statistics would be an appropriate method, and give one limitation of using them.
- Identify what the research needs: reliable, large-scale, long-term data covering the whole of the UK population over 40 years, which the sociologist could not realistically collect themselves.
- Explain the appropriateness: the Office for National Statistics already collects and publishes complete, official divorce data every year, so using it is far quicker, cheaper and covers a larger, more representative sample than the sociologist could gather through primary research.
- Identify a limitation: official statistics on divorce only record legal divorces, so they miss couples who separate informally or stop cohabiting without divorcing, meaning the figures may not give a fully valid picture of relationship breakdown in the UK.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What is meant by 'secondary data'?Show answer
Answer: Data that already exists, having been collected by someone else, usually for a different original purpose, which the sociologist reuses.
Q2Give one example of an organisation that produces official statistics in the UK.Show answer
Answer: The Office for National Statistics, or a government department such as the Department for Education.
Q3What is the difference between 'hard' and 'soft' statistics?Show answer
Answer: Hard statistics are based on fairly objective, countable events, such as births or deaths; soft statistics involve more social judgement or interpretation, such as some crime or unemployment figures.
Q4What is meant by the 'dark figure of crime'?Show answer
Answer: The gap between the true amount of crime committed and the amount actually recorded in official crime statistics, because much crime goes unreported or unrecorded.
Q5Give one advantage of using official statistics rather than collecting primary data.Show answer
Answer: They are usually free or cheap, quick to access, and cover very large, often whole-population, samples that an individual sociologist could not realistically collect.
Q6Give one reason official statistics on 'family type' might not be valid for a sociologist's research.Show answer
Answer: The official definitions used to categorise families may not match the sociologist's own definition, or may have changed over time, making the figures an imperfect measure of what is being studied.
Q7Are official statistics generally classed as primary or secondary data?Show answer
Answer: Secondary data, since the sociologist did not personally collect it, and it was originally gathered by a government body for administrative purposes.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two strengths of using official statistics to study long-term trends in exam results.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
A sociologist uses official police-recorded crime statistics to conclude that working-class young men commit far more crime than any other group. Evaluate the validity of this conclusion.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 8 available
Discuss the strengths and limitations of using official statistics in sociological research.
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 12 available
See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the secondary and official statistics worksheet pack - 9 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
Next topics
Not quite what you needed?
Tell us what is missing on secondary and official statistics, or which topic to write up next. Every request is read, and we reply to every one.
Build a full practice pack.
This topic is one of hundreds in the library - pick the ones a student needs and generate a printable PDF in minutes.