Evidence & Sources Policy
How MaishaThabiti evaluates authoritative, provider, independent and community sources and preserves evidence provenance.
Sources are useful only when they are relevant to the claim being made. This policy explains how MaishaThabiti thinks about evidence quality, provenance, dates and limitations.
Primary and authoritative sources
For laws, official requirements, recognised qualifications, public benefits, regulated matters and institutional facts, we prefer the body with direct authority or responsibility. A secondary article that summarises an official rule can be useful for context, but the rule or responsible authority is normally stronger evidence of the requirement itself.
Provider sources
A provider is often the best source for what it currently offers: its course, product, location, fee, opening hours or application process. It is not automatically the best source for comparative claims such as being the cheapest, safest, most effective or most suitable option. Promotional language remains a provider claim unless independently established.
Independent evidence
Independent research, professional standards, audited data, credible surveys, technical publications and responsible reporting can be important when assessing outcomes, market conditions, risks, costs or the performance of an option.
Community and lived experience
Community discussions and first-hand experience can reveal practical issues that formal documents miss. They are especially useful for identifying questions to investigate. They should not be used to override a clear official rule or be presented as representative evidence without a reasonable basis.
Source provenance
Where practical, an evidence record should preserve enough information to identify the source, understand what part of it supports the claim and know when it was published or accessed. This makes later review possible even when the surrounding page has changed.
Source dates and supersession
A source can remain historically useful after a newer source supersedes it. The important distinction is whether the source still describes the current position. When a current rule changes, MaishaThabiti should prefer the new evidence for current decisions while retaining appropriate traceability to what was previously known.
Broken or unavailable sources
A source becoming unavailable does not automatically make the underlying fact false. Editors may replace the source, mark the evidence for review or preserve the claim with an explicit limitation while stronger evidence is sought.
Evidence is not endorsement
Citing a provider, institution, publication or individual means the source is relevant to a particular claim. It does not imply that MaishaThabiti endorses everything that source publishes or offers.
Last updated: 6 September 2026.