Reading reports and written sources as evidence

Overview

What an extract gives that a table cannot, how provenance changes the weight a source carries, and why hedged language is worth noticing.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does a report extract give you that a table or a map cannot?

   Model answer

   Reasoning and context: why a proposal was made, what constraints apply, what has already been tried, what the technical findings were, and what the people involved say they want. It can also supply the criteria a decision is supposed to meet, such as planning policy or environmental protection requirements. It is the resource most likely to contain the argument you must engage with rather than merely the facts.

2. 2

   What do you check about a written source before deciding how much weight to give it?

   Model answer

   Who wrote it, who commissioned or paid for it, why it was produced, who it was written for, when, and whether it is reporting evidence or expressing an opinion. A technical survey, a consultation summary, a press release and a letter of objection are all legitimate resources, but they are legitimate in different ways and support different kinds of claim.

3. 3

   A consultant's report has been commissioned by the developer promoting the scheme. How should that affect your use of it?

   Model answer

   Use it, but weight it carefully. Its technical measurements are probably sound because they can be checked, while its interpretation, its choice of what to measure and its optimistic assumptions about jobs or visitor numbers deserve scepticism. Where an independent source covers the same ground, prefer that for contested claims. Saying explicitly why you are treating parts of it differently is a stronger move than accepting or rejecting the whole.

4. 4

   What are letters from residents or a local newspaper article worth in a decision-making exercise?

   Model answer

   They are genuine evidence of how people perceive the proposal, what they fear and what they value, which is exactly what you need when examining conflicting values. They are not evidence of how widespread those views are: the people who write in are self-selected and usually strongly opposed or strongly in favour. Use them for the substance of the concern, and look to survey or consultation data for its prevalence.

5. 5

   How should you handle a quotation from a named individual in the resources?

   Model answer

   Identify who is speaking and what interest they hold, then use the quotation for what that position tells you rather than as a statement of fact. A farmer's remark about losing land is strong evidence of the impact on farming livelihoods and weak evidence about regional employment effects. Attribute it when you use it, so the reader can see whose view it represents.

6. 6

   Reports are often written in hedged language - could, up to, is expected to. Why should you notice that?

   Model answer

   Because the hedge is doing real work. Up to 500 jobs sets a ceiling, not an expectation, and the actual figure could be far lower; is expected to reduce flooding signals a modelled prediction, not a guarantee. Reading the modality tells you how confident the author actually is, and quoting a hedged claim as if it were certain is a straightforward misuse of the source.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.