Research Brief Source Budgeting

Key stats

• Source budgets should follow claim risk and topic complexity.
• Ten sources is a floor for this Research format, not proof of completeness.
• Primary sources deserve priority when a claim is material.

Key takeaways

• Budget by claim, not by article length.
• Log exclusions and unresolved gaps.
• Stop collection when evidence is sufficient and diverse.

Budget method

Use the content brief research queue to list claims, source types, owner, and stop condition.

Methodology and limitations

This method applies public research, statistics, search, quality, privacy, and accessibility guidance. It does not estimate labor cost or guarantee claim accuracy.

Related research

• Content brief research queue
• Research source triangulation
• Source register fields for article production

FAQs

When should research stop?

Stop when the central claims are supported, competing interpretations are considered, and remaining gaps are documented.

Is source diversity always necessary?

For important claims, use sources with genuinely different methods or perspectives where appropriate.

Sources

1. Pew Research methods
2. BLS data
3. U.S. Census data
4. Google Search Essentials
5. NIST Cybersecurity Framework
6. NIST Privacy Framework
7. W3C WCAG 2.2
8. ISO 9001 quality management
9. PlainLanguage.gov guidelines
10. Digital.gov content guidance