Evidence and Data Collection
General Guidelines
- When collecting evidence for a determination, the number of pieces needed is largely dependent upon the quality of each piece of evidence. However, a few general rules to follow are:
- The more research, the better: The current limit to the number of pieces of evidence per candidate/question is 4. When questioning if you should take a piece of research or not, lean on the side of taking it!
- The more recent, the better: In all cases, you should use the most recent sources available; all data taken should be older than 6 years to the corresponding election year. If no data within 6 years can be found, evidence outside of this window can be considered, but generally speaking it might not be as helpful.
- Data that comes from the Vote Smart website is especially useful: Using data from Vote Smart’s website can lead people to other parts of the website, which is always a good thing!
Note: Doing Issue Positions research is sort of like making a persuasive argument: your determination is your thesis statement, or main argument, and your citations are the bullet points you use to build out your argument. You’re, in essence, making an argument to voters about where someone seeking to represent them stands on a certain issue. That’s a powerful task, and so you’re constantly making small judgment calls on each determination for every PCT question.
Where to Look
Useful Issue Position evidence can be found using a multitude of sources, making it fairly easy to find where a candidate stands on the issues. Sources should be checked in this order:
- Vote Smart Website: The Vote Smart website contains tons of data that can be used as evidence: speeches, past PCT answers, votes, and special interest group ratings and endorsements.
- Candidate Websites: You should check candidate websites for issue position data. Page names on candidate websites that tend to be helpful: Platform, Stances, Issues, Positions.
- Campaign Social Media: Social media posts can also be a good place to find issue position research evidence (Facebook and Twitter contain the most potential evidence).
Generally, the most effective way to research Challengers and Incumbents is as follows:
Challengers:
1. Check their official campaign website.
2. Check all official campaign social media.
3. Check Vote Smart for any speeches or ratings we might already have.
4. Do one last Google search to make sure we aren't missing anything.
Incumbents:
1. Check Vote Smart for any answers from recent PCTs. Then check for speeches, votes, ratings/endorsements.
2. Check official campaign websites.
3. Check official legislative websites.
4. Check official campaign social media.
5. Do one last Google search to make sure we aren't missing anything.
Types of IP Data
- Statements (can come in a variety of forms–press releases, news articles, social media posts, etc.)
- Past PCT Answers
- Voting Record & Sponsored Legislation
- Interest Group Ratings
In deciding what evidence is most helpful, we have created a tiered of describing data:
Tier 1 Data:
- Candidates directly answering the PCT question. This most often comes in the form of direct statements. For example, a candidate stating that "I am 100% pro-life" directly answers the question on abortion. Past PCT answers (within 6 years) can also be considered tier 1 evidence. Votes that directly address the PCT question can be considered tier 1 evidence, but most votes are considered tier 2 because they do not reflect the exact PCT question.
- It's always best to find more evidence, but tier 1 data can generally be used to make a determination by itself.
Tier 2 Data:
- Tier two data is usually composed of votes, interest group ratings, and statements that do not directly address the PCT question. Tier 2 evidence relates to the topics asked on the PCT, but does not directly answer PCT questions.
- Tier 2 data should be used in issue position research, but unlike tier 1 data, it requires 2-3 pieces of tier 2 data to make a research determination.
Research Guide
Each major election year, a research guide should be made to train and inform issue position researchers. Example from 2022 linked here.
