We’ve mentioned the importance of thinking about who a record’s informant is before, but some concepts are worth repeating.
Do we really know who gave each piece of information on a record? Even if an informant is stated, there is no guarantee that they didn’t ask someone else for a piece of information or that they received a piece of information from someone else.
The informant may have easily guessed at information for one reason or another. The informant may have been told to guess if they weren’t certain–particularly if the information wasn’t considered “really essential” by the clerk or record keeper.
The informant may have lied–to protect themselves, someone else, or to keep a secret from being discovered.
The researcher’s perspective is worth considering as well: is there something that we don’t want to admit is true or is it possible that what we think is true is actually false. There’s always the chance that we think the informant was wrong when in fact they were actually correct.
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