24761 Chap.3 Validating Sources with the CRAAP Test
Validating Sources with the CRAAP Test
Why borrowed data needs checking
Secondary data was collected for someone else's purpose, so its quality, age and slant vary from source to source.
Week 3 defines validation as judging whether a source is suitable, trustworthy and fit for the particular marketing problem, and warns that unchecked data leads to poor decisions.
Five questions
The CRAAP test asks about currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose.
Each question has practical prompts: publication date, fit with your topic and audience, the author's credentials, supporting evidence and review, and whether the material was written to inform or to sell.
Bias, a steady lean towards some interests over others, is one reason the purpose question matters: material published by brands and their associations may be written to promote.
From scores to sentences
The chapter scores four invented sources for a pet-insurance start-up, screens a rival insurer's blog in full, and shows how to write validation into the source section of a report rather than leaving it as a hidden checklist.
Chapter 4 then compares sources against each other.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Why secondary data must be validated before use
- 02
What validation means for a specific marketing problem
- 03
Currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose
- 04
Bias and the purpose behind a source
- 05
Scoring and comparing several sources
- 06
Writing validation into a report sentence
Worked example · free
Rank four scored pet-insurance sources with the CRAAP test
- 1Totals: association report 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7; newspaper 0 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 5; blog 2 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 4; journal article 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8.
- 1Ranking: journal article 8, association report 7, newspaper 5, rival insurer blog 4.
- 1The journal article has the highest total and is the only source with full scores on authority, accuracy and purpose, so it is the best candidate to carry the cost figure.
- 1The blog scores zero on authority, accuracy and purpose, so it cannot support a cost figure even though it is current and on topic; the newspaper's currency score of 0 limits it to background.
Key terms
- Source Validation
- Judging whether a source and its data are suitable, trustworthy and fit for one particular marketing question.
- Information Currency
- How recent a source is, including whether it has been revised and whether the question needs up-to-date information.
- Source Authority
- The credibility of whoever wrote, published or sponsored a piece of information, judged by credentials and affiliation.
- Information Bias
- A systematic lean in information that favours some viewpoints or interests and underrepresents others.
Validating Sources with the CRAAP Test FAQ
What does CRAAP stand for in source evaluation?
Currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose. Currency asks how up to date the information is, relevance whether it fits your question and audience, authority who stands behind it, accuracy whether it is supported and verifiable, and purpose whether it was written to inform, teach, sell or persuade. Together they screen any source before you rely on it.
Why does secondary data need validating at all?
Because it was collected for another purpose, its quality differs between publishers, and it may be biased, inaccurate, outdated, incomplete or contradicted by other sources. Using it without checking can lead a business to a poor decision, and in a report it weakens every insight built on it. Validation shows the reader you judged the evidence rather than collected it.
Can I use a company's own website as a source?
Yes, for what the company offers and says about itself, such as products, prices and positioning. Its purpose is to promote the brand, so it scores weakly on that criterion and should not be your evidence for how customers feel or how the market is moving. Pair it with independent sources and state the limitation when you cite it.
How old is too old for a marketing source?
It depends on the question. A source from several years ago can be the right evidence for a past event or a long-run trend, but it fails currency if you are describing the present market. Check the publication date, whether it has been updated, and whether more recent data exists, then say in the text why the age is acceptable.
Do I have to show the CRAAP test in my report?
The report does not require a CRAAP table, but the rubric has a line for triangulation and validation, and the sources section asks why each source is relevant. The clearest way to show validation is a sentence per source naming its publisher, date and main strength and weakness, plus a note on how a weak source was cross-checked.
Assessment move
Pick five sources about a brand you are not assessed on and score each one 0, 1 or 2 on the five CRAAP criteria, writing one line of reasoning per score. Look at the pattern of scores, not only the total: a source can be current and relevant yet unclear about who wrote it or why. For any source that scores 0 on purpose, decide what it can still legitimately show, such as how a company describes itself.
Then rewrite a short sources paragraph so that each source carries a brief judgement in the sentence that cites it. Once the routine feels natural, apply the same habit to the sources in your own report and keep the scores in your source log.
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