Secondary Sources
Why we use Secondary Sources?
While we hope that the large majority of political candidates provide extensive and comprehensive biographical information on their own sources, unfortunately, that is not always the case!Secondary Sources are our answer to ensuring we can provide as much information on every candidate as we can possibly find. Many candidates have given biographical information to other sources, spoken to news organizations about their backgrounds, or other groups have done research of their own, which can all help us to create the most comprehensive biography of a candidate that we can research.
The general use of secondary sources is thoroughness, the number one trait of a researcher (Traits of a Researcher), and can be utilized to "fill in the gaps" of biographical research that the primary source research (candidate website, social media etc.) was not able to fill. The use of secondary sources, as the name suggests, should be to supplement and support primary source research, and provide a lens where we can add additional biographical information that we otherwise would not have included through primary research. This is important to remember, as we always want to prioritize the primary source, but not be entirely reliant on them for comprehensive information.
When to Utilize Secondary Sources?
As mentioned above, secondary sources should be used to fill gaps left by primary research. This means that all primary source research for a candidate should be completed before any secondary source research begins. Our rule of thumb is we will always prefer to take information from the primary source, so we want to be sure we have exhaustively and confidently reviewed all potential sources, and have not found all possible information for that candidate. If we’re missing something like birthplace, birthdate, home city, family, education, or profession, we can often find that information in a secondary source.Finding Secondary Sources
When using secondary sources, you can follow this general framework below to (hopefully) find what you are looking for:1. Complete research on all primary sources for the candidate, to ensure we have entered all possible biographical information from these sources first.
2. Once this primary research is complete, use a search engine to find results in the specific bio area you are looking for. Examples: "Joe Biden birthdate", "Chuck Grassley home city", "Candidate X religion"
3. As you review the results, try to find a result that may contain the information you are looking for. Be sure to keep an open mind, as this could be a variety of sources: blog post, news article, interview, bio-guide, research organization, or anything in between.
4. If you have found a source with the information, review if the source is suitable and reputable (read more specifics on this below)
5. If the source is deemed to be suitable for use, transcribe the biographical data-point into admin for the candidate.
6. Important: Be sure to keep a record of the secondary source you located the information - this can be done on the research spreadsheet (Currently, there is not an admin module to enter secondary sources used for reference, but this may change in the future).
6. Repeats steps for any other research gaps left by primary research for the candidate.
It is valuable to note that with the use of secondary sources, not all candidate profiles will be fully comprehensive, as there are unfortunately some gaps in biographical research that exist across all sources, so do not expect to fill every single biography gap.
What is a Reputable Secondary Source?
A reputable source, for the purpose of secondary source research, is one that we feel comfortable and confident in including in our biographical research. We do not want to just be taking anything from any web page we come across, so we want to be sure we are using quality secondary sources when completing secondary research.Keys to finding/identifying a reputable source:
- Do NOT cite Wikipedia or Ballotpedia directly, However, given their extensive use of citations to other sources, these can be a great starting point for finding secondary sources they have used as citations. The exception here is if a candidate has completed Ballotpedia's 'Candidate Connection Survey' (Their equivalent of our PCT/Biographical forms)
- Articles & interviews from news organizations and publications are good sources to use (these can be common for lower level/less covered candidates) - quality checking the news organization can also be a good step.
- Pew research, and other research organizations.
- Political party sites that may provide candidate information.
Useful Secondary Source Examples
There are some particular secondary sources can be particular useful to fill specific biographical fields that may commonly not be included by the candidate themselves. Some examples are noted here below:1. birthplace & birthdate: For Congressional officials, the congress.gov bio guide includes this information as a standard bio datapoint: Nancy Pelosi example - they also include some other standardized research points as well, such as educational experiences (with graduation year), birthplace, and professional experiences (generally no spans on these experiences though).
2. Religion: Pew research each congressional cycle, researches the religious composition of congressional officials 116th Congress example
3. birthdate & birthplace: For federal judicial officials, the Federal Judicial Center holds this information, along with professional and judicial experience information. Brett Kavanaugh example
