NEEDRA

Method · process version, not a promise

Evidence Standard v1.2

This is the method every NEEDRA claim is held to.

What this page is for

A dossier links here when a sceptical reader wants to check the method rather than the conclusion. It describes method only: no figures, no findings, no claims about any company.

VerifiedEstimateHypothesisExactly three values, no others

01

Confidence labels

Every material claim carries one of three labels. There is no fourth label, and no claim is published unlabelled.

Verified

Supported by multiple independent retrieved sources, each with its own numbered, dated Source Record.

What earns it
Earned when at least two independent permitted sources state the fact, and each one was opened and read at retrieval.
How it may be reduced
Reduced to Estimate when a cited source stops resolving, or when a second source turns out to restate the first.

Estimate

Derived or self-reported. The derivation is shown on the page and the figure is never presented as fact.

What earns it
Earned when the figure is calculated from cited sources, or reported by one party about itself.
How it may be reduced
Reduced to Hypothesis when the input the derivation rests on can no longer be checked.

Hypothesis

Plausible and untested. Never presented as demand, and always paired with what would test it.

What earns it
Earned when the reasoning is stated in full and the test that would falsify it is named beside it.
How it may be reduced
Removed from the dossier when no test can be named, rather than carried at a lower label.

02

What a Source Record contains

One record per source, numbered. Six fields, always the same six, in the same order.

Publisher
Who published the source, named as they name themselves.
Locator
The exact address of the page or artefact that was read.
Publication date
As stated by the source. “Not stated” means the page carries no date.
Retrieval date
The date NEEDRA opened and read that page.
Quoted passage
The relevant words verbatim, not paraphrased.
Why it supports the claim
One or two plain sentences connecting the passage to the claim beside it.

Clicking a bracketed number on a dossier page opens that record in place, on the same page. No signup and no wall.

03

Permitted sources

Permitted

  • —Official vendor documentation.
  • —Public issue trackers and pull requests.
  • —Public release notes and changelogs.
  • —Public pricing pages.
  • —Public company careers pages.
  • —Third-party pricing marketplaces reporting aggregated data.

Never used

  • —Any source behind access control.
  • —Licensed datasets.
  • —Private communication. Where an issue links a private Slack or Discord thread, that thread is not accessed; only the public issue text is cited.
  • —Personal names and repository handles, which are deliberately omitted even when visible during retrieval.
  • —Scraped personal contact data.

A source not on the permitted list is refused. No exception, no negotiation.

04

How evidence ages

Every dossier is dated, and evidence ages. A source can be edited, moved or withdrawn after it was read.

When that happens, the dossier says so in place rather than quietly dropping the claim. This is the pattern used on a dossier page:

Broken source, as rendered

Source unavailable since YYYY-MM-DD. Confidence reduced to Estimate. Conclusion revalidated against [14].

Dates on NEEDRA pages render from data and are formatted ISO 8601. In an example, YYYY-MM-DD is a placeholder, never a real date.

05

What NEEDRA will not do

  • —Publish a material claim without a numbered, dated Source Record beside it.
  • —Pad a scope the evidence cannot support. It is declined, in writing, with the reason.
  • —Use a source that is not on the permitted list. No exception, no negotiation.
  • —Publish an unsourced negative claim about any other research provider.
  • —Present a superlative without a number behind it, or a claim of uniqueness.

06

Declining a scope

When the evidence cannot support the requested scope, that scope is declined in writing, with the reason stated.

The nearest scope the evidence does support is named in the same answer, so the reader leaves with a supportable option rather than a padded one.

Traditional research may not provide claim-level, dated provenance.

The rest of the practice is on the NEEDRA page.