Official Statistics Flashcards

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Note: We may include questions that have multiple correct answers. It's useful to remember specific examples to understand these concepts better.

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What are official statistics?

Data, usually numbers, collected by the government and other official bodies.

Government departments and agencies, like the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Census and the unemployment rate.

Secondary data, because others collected them for another purpose.

They are already collected and published, often online, so access is easy.

They cover large samples or the whole population, like the Census.

They may not measure what you think. Definitions can change over time.

Often reliable due to standard methods. But if methods change, comparisons over time are hard.

A count of people and households. It is done every 10 years.

Hard stats are simple counts, like births. Soft stats rely on decisions, like recorded crime.

By comparing them with other sources, such as surveys or interviews.

Few, as the data is already published and does not name people. Researchers should use and report it honestly.