Evaluate evidence

Determine reliable and useful findings or sources.  Analyse and evaluate information, judging its relevance and value.  When you are researching you will come across lots of information which is inaccurate or untrue.  You may even come across material that has been designed to deceive you.  When you are excellent at this skill you will be able to analyse all of your research and decide which parts are useful valid and accurate.
1	I can give reasons why something is true.
2	I can play ‘Twenty questions’ and win.  Someone thinks of a mystery thing. I have just twenty questions to guess what it is.  Only yes/no answers are allowed.
3	When I am doing a project, I choose which information to use and which pieces not to use.  The pieces I choose are all on the same subject.
4	I collect information although some of it is not relevant.  From all this information I can choose pieces that help me answer the questions in my project.  I can explain why I didn’t use some of the information if it is not obvious.
5	I can sort information into useful/not useful and sort the useful information into an order of most valuable to least, explaining why. My reasons are specific to the task and topic I am researching.
6	I understand that a piece of information which is of great value, use and relevance in one piece of work can also be less useful or relevant in another context, even if the subject is the same. For example in two pieces of work on the same topic I have selected different sources and information for each.
7	I can find my own evidence from sources of information not directly related to the topic I am studying and identify how they are relevant. I can raise questions about sources that I feel may be more opinion than fact and those which have not been researched as fully as I would expect.
8	When selecting evidence to include in my project I refer to relevance, accuracy, bias and how appropriate the work is.  I make these assessments fairly and with a speed that allows me to compile and organise sufficient evidence in the time scale available to me.  Sources that contain a margin of error or uncertainty are backed up by more evidence to help reduce this uncertainty.
9	I have established a clear strategy for assessing the value and relevance of a piece of information/research with criteria based on author/source reliability, accuracy and context. This strategy is embedded in my way of working, automatic and consistent.

 

Evaluate evidence