@Loh Jane,
Who told you that? Won't that depend on the sociological perspective that you're exploring and wanting to study?
The difference between birth rate and fertility rate is that birth rate is a parameter of the entire population, while fertility rate is a parameter of a group of individuals in the population. Fertility rate determines the birth rate, and not vice versa. Represented in relation to a time interval is the birth rate, while fertility rate is represented in relation to the number of females in the reproductive age.