What is Analysis?
SOURCES supply information. The question, 'What are you holding?,' is sometimes used to determine the source. A book? A photograph? An heirloom? A document? In the world of the Web this question needs a bit of tweaking. We cannot 'hold' the database of grave markers that is on our computer monitor, unless we print it. If we can derive information from something—it is a source. The grave marker is an original source—the database that contains an abstract of the information on the stone is a derivative source. Sources are not equal, but all are cited.
INFORMATION is knowledge of a fact. The knowledge may or may not be correct and it is rarely given to a person studying the past in primary (first-person) form. The date on the tombstone was carved by a stone mason who may have chiseled the date of death or the date of burial. Perhaps he was looking at a copy of a death certificate as his source of information. There are several questions that could be asked about that information.
- Is the record legible?
- What was its provenance?
- How was the informant related to the deceased?
- Was it plausible that the informant was present at the person's birth?
- Was it plausible that the informant was present at the person's death?
- Is there contradictory information within the record? For example, if the deceased's age was calculated as 88 when he died and the birth and death dates indicate that he was 78, which piece of information is incorrect—the birth date, the date of death or both?
- Does the information provided by the death certificate contradict information from other sources such as an obituary or grave marker?
EVIDENCE provides grounds for belief that proves or disproves a conclusion. The genealogist must take widely scattered sources that provide information which, in turn, provides evidence and blend them together to reach reasonable conclusions. This can include the use of direct, indirect, conflicting, or negative evidence. Direct evidence can stand alone, indirect evidence must be supported with other evidence, and conflicts in evidence must be resolved. The weight that is placed on any individual piece of evidence is an important part of the process of analysis. The end product is the conclusion—a soundly-reasoned argument that answers the question and is the product of a report.