How to handle contradicting sources in competitor research
When sources disagree, keep both sides, record who said each, check the dates, and mark the claim contested until a person resolves it. A vendor saying one thing while its customers say another is often the most useful finding in a project.
Record who is speaking
A vendor page, a customer review and a forum thread are different kinds of evidence. Disagreement between a vendor and its customers means something different from two vendors disagreeing, so write the source type next to each statement.
Check whether the sources are from different dates
Two sources can both be right at different times. A changelog entry from September may explain why a review from May no longer applies. Label that kind of evidence as context, not as contradiction, and the claim stays supported.
Mark the claim contested
Do not resolve a conflict by picking the more convenient source. List the evidence on each side and let a reviewer decide whether the weight is enough to resolve it. If nobody resolves it, the claim stays contested, and that is a legitimate state.
| Claim | Source | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Meridian onboarding takes about a day | Meridian onboarding page | Supports |
| Meridian onboarding takes about a day | Review: “three weeks to migrate 40 clients” | Contradicts |
| Meridian onboarding takes about a day | Changelog: bulk import added in September | Contextualises |
Word downstream work around the open question
A sales line should not present a contested claim as fact. “Ask how many client accounts need importing” holds up in a meeting. “Meridian takes weeks to set up” does not, because the evidence only shows that some customers reported it.
What to keep
- Both statements, with source type and date.
- The decision, who made it and when.
- The reason for it, for example “review predates the bulk import”.
- A review date, because the answer may change.
Contradictions in Sigblaze
Sigblaze stores each piece of evidence against a claim as supports, contradicts or contextualises. A claim with contradicting evidence is shown as contested and is not silently resolved.
This piece contains no external statistics. Fieldnote and Meridian are fictional companies, and the figures in the examples are synthetic.