Heterogeneous source synthesis
Weighing a document against a stakeholder against a dataset, and keeping a synthesis accurate.
Sources of different kinds cannot be compared as if they were the same kind. A planning document states intentions and assumptions; an interview states interests and experience; a dataset states measurements of one thing under one definition. Half of synthesis at this level is noticing which kind of claim you are holding.
| Source type | What it can establish | What it cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Planungsdokument | goals, measures, stated assumptions | whether the assumptions hold |
| Interview | a position, an interest, lived experience | a general fact |
| Datensatz / Tabelle | what was measured, for whom, when | anything not measured |
| Kommentar / Artikel | an argument and its reasoning | its own premises |
| Studie | a finding under stated conditions | transfer to other conditions |
Before using a figure, ask what it measures and over what. A number per visit and a number per month answer different questions, and choosing between them decides the argument.
Autofahrende geben pro Besuch am meisten aus.
Car drivers spend the most per visit.
true of the table — and the weakest version of the retail argument
Autofahrende geben pro Monat weniger aus als Radfahrende.
Car drivers spend less per month than cyclists.
also true of the same table, and it points the other way
Die Zahlen zeigen nicht, welche Branchen aufgesucht wurden.
The figures do not show which sectors were visited.
the gap — and exactly the point the interview makes
Overstatement is the commonest synthesis error at C1, and it has three forms: upgrading a claim’s strength (dürfte → ist), widening its scope (this survey → all city centres), and transferring it between kinds (a plan’s assumption → a fact).
A fair synthesis also names what is missing. If no source addresses costs, the synthesis says so; a reader who is not told will assume the sources covered it.
Die Zahlen belegen, dass der Einzelhandel vom Autoverkehr abhängt.Die Zahlen zeigen die höchsten Ausgaben pro Besuch bei Autofahrenden, die niedrigsten monatlichen Ausgaben jedoch ebenfalls.
The first uses one column and hides the other. Citing a table selectively is a distortion even when every cited number is correct.
Der Plan geht davon aus, dass die Wege verlagert werden — also werden sie verlagert.Der Plan geht von einer Verlagerung aus und nennt selbst eine Einschränkung: die Vergleichsstädte hatten eine bessere Schienenanbindung.
A document’s assumption is evidence about the document, not about the world — especially where the document flags the assumption itself.
Words from this topic
- die die Verlagerungthe shift (to another mode or place)
- die die Ausschreibungthe tender, the procurement process
- die die Ladezonethe loading zone
- beziffernto quantify, to put a figure on
- ausweisento report, to designate
- überschätzento overestimate
- die die Betreuungsrelationthe staff-to-student ratio