Guideline:Primary sources

In order to build our research on the strongest possible fundament we are using as many primary sources as possible and have a close eye on methodologies of data extraction.

Using primary sources is important to build trust and credibility in the quality of our research and being able to rely on it.

What is a primary sources?

A primary source is the original source where the data is coming from. Good examples are official company reports or data collected by an institution like the CPI report of the BLS.

When determining if a primary source is good we are looking at it's methodology as there are differences in the way data is collected and therefore it's quality.

Examples:

• Even some official data from institutions might be build on a small sample size and therefore has less weight in our considerations
• Some smaller companies have lower data collection and reporting standards (Lower listing standard - Currently not part of our portfolio)

What is a secondary source?

A secondary source is a source talking about the primary source. E.g. an Bloomberg article talking about a delivery report of Volkswagen vehicles. (The official report is the primary source)

There are often small mistakes in secondary sources even by reputable publications like Bloomberg. Additionally the secondary source often attempts to display the news as more important in order to generate more clicks.

When we come across secondary sources we try to verify key informations via primary sources and use the primary source in our citation in the article. (In some cases using the secondary source in addition e.g. when an argument is made can make some sense)