DESCRIBED / Data Exhaust / Resource 03
Claim and evidence check
Test whether a record supports the specific claim you want to make.
By Jonathan Malchow Vega · Free · No signup
Start here
- Write the claim before looking for supporting details.
- Separate direct observation from the inference you want to make.
- Identify one missing fact that matters and a way to check it.
A useful finish: Your conclusion is no broader than the evidence you can point to.
Use it here or take a copy
Fill in the browser worksheet below, or download the three-page workbook with a quick start, fictional example and two fillable pages.
Blank text template · Text example
Print pages 2 and 3 for a blank worksheet. Save and reopen a filled PDF to check your entries. Use the text template for longer notes.
See a completed fictional example
This example is invented to show how the worksheet works. It is not a client case study.
- Claim in one sentence
- Supplier 42 completed approval before work began.
- Record being used
- Fictional register export EX-12, row 42, dated 12 October 2026.
- Direct observation
- The status column reads approved in the export.
- Inference being made
- That a valid approval happened before the work started.
- Missing context or alternative explanation
- The export contains no approval date or criteria; the status may have been updated later.
- Proportionate next check
- Compare the dated approval record with the work start record before making the timing claim.
Write your own notes
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Read alongside the worksheet
Version 1.1 · 19 October 2026. Adapt for personal or internal organizational work. Keep the author and source credit on blank copies shared internally. Share this page when recommending the resource.