Ed.D. Educational Leadership & Organizational Innovation Program: Evaluating Sources

The ACCORD Model was created to help you evaluate sources.  Evaluate each source individually based on the identified criteria to ensure it is academically appropriate. 

If you need help evaluating a source, contact a librarian.

Things to keep in mind when figuring out if statistics are credible:

• Who collected the data?
  • Do they have an interest in the results that might indicate bias?
• How recently was the data published?
• Does the sample size represent a fair population?
• Has the data been "re-packaged"?
  • For example, government data published by a private source might be incomplete or biased in its "re-packaging".
• Is the data from a primary source?
  • If not, is it properly cited (referenced) to easily locate the original, primary source?