C.R.A.A.P. Test: Accuracy

Of course, accuracy is very important. 

Is the information true, accurate, factual? Does the source present information that can be trusted? 

The goal of many researchers is to gain some additional understanding about the world. To that you need to get information that accurately describes the world and provides a little more insight. Even those who are trying to understand abstract things like opinions or feelings want to get their knowledge of the opinions or feelings right. Psychologists might look at what percentage of people feel when in a particular situation and start a discussion from there as to what to do about it, if anything.

Even writers of fiction may want to tell a believable story, which means putting enough accurate and true information in the story to make the audience believe the plot could happen.

First, what is the topic? 

A way to examine accuracy or truthfulness of a topic of which you know little is to examine the source for the Five Ws and One H. Even if you know nothing about a topic, you can ask these questions about it.

Five Ws and One H

• ​Who was involved? (Or in some disciplines like science, what things are involved?)
• What happened? 
• Where was it?
• When was it?
• Why did it happen?
• How did it happen?

Does the source provide some or all of the above information?

Now, the source made some claims about the topic. How do you know the claims are true? Does the source provide any evidence? And if it does, does it tell you where the information came from...so you can check for yourself whether they are telling the truth? Good research will identify their sources and provide references for where they got their facts.

News reporters will tell where they got their information, although sometimes they will withhold the identity of the source to protect the source. If they do, they usually say whether the source is a government official or other person-who-ought-to-have-some-credible-insight. Intelligence experts also may protect their sources.Therefore, it is important for intelligence agencies and news services to maintain their integrity and a reputation for accurate information. Helpful in this regard is that these entities fact check each other's reports and report errors found.

Researchers raise the bar and prefer to cite peer-reviewed sources. A peer-reviewed source is a source that was written by an expert researcher and was evaluated by other expert researchers before being published and distributed to others. Researchers favor peer-reviewed sources because the peer-review process helps to weed out the stuff with problems and mistakes.