Research and Fact-Checking
Year 9 HEAP • Documentaries • Research
A documentary can be emotionally compelling and factually wrong. Fact-checking is the discipline of separating what a film asserts from what can be verified, and of recording the difference.
Claims and evidence
| Claim | Type | Evidence needed | What would count as disconfirming evidence |
|---|
| "The pool closed in 2019." | Factual | Council records, dated news reports. | A later closure date or a different pool. |
| "The closure caused a rise in vandalism." | Causal | Police or council data before and after, plus alternative explanations. | Vandalism was already rising, or rose elsewhere too. |
| "Residents were not consulted." | Factual and interpretive | Meeting minutes, notices, correspondence, interviews. | Consultation records that residents attended. |
| "The council did not care." | Evaluative | A stated standard of care and evidence about decisions. | Evidence of care that the film omitted. |
| "The new park is better for the community." | Evaluative | Criteria, usage data, diverse perspectives. | Groups that lost access or were not consulted. |
Source types
| Source | Strength | Limit |
|---|
| Official records | Dates, decisions and formal accounts. | May be incomplete, redacted or written to protect an institution. |
| Local news | Contemporaneous detail and named sources. | May be rushed, biased or dependent on one informant. |
| Academic research | Method and peer review. | May not apply to this place or moment. |
| Community archives | Material that official archives omit. | Selection and preservation biases. |
| Interviews | Experience, memory and perspective. | Memory changes; one account is not a consensus. |
| Statistics | Scale and comparison. | Definitions, sample and collection method matter. |
| Satellite or map data | Physical change over time. | Resolution and date may be imprecise. |
| Social media | Immediate reaction and leads. | Unverified, decontextualised and easily manipulated. |
Checking a statistic
- Find the original source, not just the article that quotes it.
- Identify what was measured and how.
- Check the date, sample and geographic area.
- Look for the base number behind a percentage.
- Compare with an independent source.
- Write one sentence on what the statistic does not show.
Checking archive
| Question | How to check |
|---|
| Is the date correct? | Look for a catalogue record, original caption or contemporary report. |
| Is the place correct? | Compare landmarks, maps and other images. |
| Is the footage from the event claimed? | Find the earliest publication and compare with the event record. |
| Has it been cropped? | Find the full frame and check what is missing. |
| Is it staged or reconstructed? | Look for camera awareness, repeated actions or production notes. |
| Who owns it? | Check the archive catalogue and licence. |
Fact-check table
| Claim in the film | Source checked | What it shows | What it does not show | Verdict |
|---|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
Use plain verdicts: supported, partly supported, not supported, or cannot be checked with available sources. Avoid pretending that uncertainty is the same as falsehood.
Correcting a documentary
- Correct the record publicly, not only in private correspondence.
- State what was wrong, what is correct and when the correction was made.
- Do not silently remove a scene; explain the change.
- Contact the person or organisation affected.
- Review the production process so the error is less likely to recur.
Common errors
- Source laundering. Citing a news article that cites a report without reading the report.
- Percentage without a base. "Up 50 per cent" means little without the starting number.
- False precision. A precise figure that the method cannot support.
- Cherry-picked dates. A time frame chosen to produce the desired trend.
- Archive without provenance. Using a clip because it looks right.
- Treating denial as disproof. An institution's statement is evidence, not the final word.
Next, put the skills together in the close analysis workshop.