Sample trace report · The switching figure

1

Trace every figure back to the table it came from.

Rowsource follows a statistic through every retelling to the table where someone first counted it. In Exhibit 1, a survey’s 31 percent became 47.

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  • Cited to the row
  • Rechecked nightly
  • Yours to export
Three terraced house fronts on a dark December afternoon: brick, lit windows, front doors and a bicycle by the kerb.
Harwick, Dec 2025Exhibit 4

1Exhibit · Report view

One figure, seven retellings

The switching figure, oldest appearance first.

RowsourceCalder research deskExport table

Heard

“Forty-seven percent of households want to switch supplier.”

Statement to Harwick Council’s housing committee · 12 September 2024

Appearances
7
Measured
1
Changed
5 of 6
WhenWhere it appearedTypeWordingFigureWhat changed
Mar 2023Harwick Household Energy SurveySurvey“31% would consider switching if the standing charge fell by a fifth”Figure31%What changedFirst measurement
Apr 2023Northfold Institute briefBrief“31 percent of households would consider switching at a fifth off the standing charge”Figure31%What changedUnchanged
Jun 2023Calder Evening PostNews“nearly a third of households would switch supplier”Figure33%What changedRounded up, condition lost
Nov 2023Harwick Council minuteMinute“a third of households will switch”Figure33%What changed“Would” became “will”
Feb 2024Committee evidence sessionHearing“36 percent of households want to switch”Figure36%What changedNew figure, “will” became “want to”
May 2024Brenmoor Weekly columnColumn“four in ten households want to switch”Figure40%What changedRounded up
Sep 2024Committee statementSpeech“forty-seven percent of households want to switch supplier”Figure47%What changedNew figure, no source given

SourceHarwick Household Energy Survey 2023, table 4.2, row 7

Checked

Tracedby Rowsource

Exhibit 1. One household energy figure traced through seven appearances, rebuilt from the report view. Sample data: the survey, outlets, speakers and desk are invented.

Newsrooms, institutes and council research units that trace with Rowsource · sample names

The evidence

2

Most figures have changed by their third retelling.

We traced 4,212 figures quoted in a sample of energy, housing and health coverage. By the third retelling, 68 percent no longer matched their source (Exhibit 2). Few of the changes were lies. Most were small edits that seemed harmless at the time. Rowsource marks each one, so you can see where a figure moved before you quote it.

How the 2,864 changed figures changed

  • Rounded toward a tidier number38%
  • Lost a condition or a qualifier27%
  • Moved to a different base, such as all adults for households16%
  • Moved to another year or period9%
  • Other changes10%

2Exhibit · Chart, sample corpus

Drift by retelling

Traced figures that no longer match their source, cumulative.

  • Share changed by that retelling
  • Third retelling

SourceSample corpus 2023 to 2025, table D3

Checked

Tracedby Rowsource

Exhibit 2. Cumulative share of the 4,212 traced figures that no longer matched their source, by retelling. Sample corpus.
Figures traced
4,212
A sample of energy, housing and health coverage, 2023 to 2025
Changed
68%
By the third retelling, from Exhibit 2
Retellings
1.8
The mean before a figure first changed
Lost a condition
27%
Share of the 2,864 changed figures

How a trace works

3

Paste one sentence and get back the whole chain behind it.

  1. Start with the sentence as you heard it. Rowsource searches your archive, public records and the 212 sources it indexes, then lays out 7 appearances of the figure, oldest first (Exhibit 3).

    Documents in scope
    18,406
    Found in your archive
    3
    Found in public records
    2
    Found in news and policy
    2

  2. We follow the chain back until it reaches a document that measured something: here, row 7 of table 4.2 in a household survey, which found 31 percent of 2,140 households.

    Document
    Household survey, PDF
    Where in it
    Table 4.2, row 7, p. 38
    Base
    2,140 households
    How it was counted
    Reported in a survey

  3. Each step where the figure moved is labelled with what changed, so you can quote the source or report the drift. In this chain the figure moved at 5 of 6 retellings.

    Rounded
    2 steps
    New figure
    2 steps
    Verb or tense
    2 steps
    Condition lost
    1 step

When the trace finishes

The chain, the table it came from and every change go into one report, the one in Exhibit 1, which your desk can cite or export.

3Exhibit · Workspace, in three states

One sentence, traced

Followed through three archives to the table that counted it.

RowsourceNew traceSearchingCalder research desk
Documents searched
17,904
Appearances
7
Measured
Pending
Changed
Pending

  • Your archiveDone

    3 found · 6,212 of 6,212

  • Public recordsDone

    2 found · 4,870 of 4,870

  • News and policy indexSearching

    2 found · 6,822 of 7,324

  1. Mar 2023Harwick Household Energy Survey“31% would consider switching if the standing charge fell by a fifth”Records · 1.4 s
  2. Apr 2023Northfold Institute brief“31 percent of households would consider switching at a fifth off the standing charge”Index · 1.7 s
  3. Jun 2023Calder Evening Post“nearly a third of households would switch supplier”Archive · 0.5 s
  4. Nov 2023Harwick Council minute“a third of households will switch”Records · 1.1 s
  5. Feb 2024Committee evidence session“36 percent of households want to switch”Archive · 0.8 s
  6. May 2024Brenmoor Weekly column“four in ten households want to switch”Just inIndex · 2.0 s
  7. Sep 2024Committee statement“forty-seven percent of households want to switch supplier”Archive · 0.3 s

Four of the seven appearances cite nothing. The committee statement is one of them.

SourceNot reached yet

CheckedNot yet

Searchingby Rowsource

Exhibit 3. A new trace moving from collection to source to changes, rebuilt from the workspace. Sample data.
A terraced street at dusk seen square-on from across the road: brick and painted house fronts, dark bins, two bicycles and a few lit windows above an empty road.

4Exhibit · The counted world

4

Behind table 4.2 are 2,140 front doors.

Exhibit 4. A terraced street in Harwick at the end of a December afternoon, the kind of street the survey sampled. Generated photograph of a fictional place.

How it was counted

5

Rowsource knows a meter reading from an opinion.

Three ways a figure gets counted

  • MeasuredRead off an instrument, such as a meter.
  • Set by the householdChosen by someone, such as a valve setting.
  • Reported in a surveyWhat people said when they were asked.

Some household figures are read off an instrument. Others are what people said they would do. We record how each source was counted, so your desk can tell a reading (Exhibit 5) from a setting someone chose (Exhibit 6), and both from an answer to a survey question. Exhibit 4 is one of the streets behind table 4.2.

5Exhibit · A reading

An old electricity meter on a plaster wall in a stair cupboard: four small dials above a metal disc, cables running down from its base.

Measured · Stair cupboard, Harwick

Exhibit 5. An electricity meter. The figure is whatever the instrument has counted. Generated photograph.

6Exhibit · A setting

A radiator valve with a ribbed ivory collar at the corner of a white radiator, beside a hallway skirting board.

Set · Hallway, Harwick

Exhibit 6. A radiator valve and its numbered collar. The figure is whatever the household chose. Generated photograph.

Results

7

Corrections fell at every desk in the first year.

Across five desks, corrections for misquoted figures fell from 4.2 to 1.6 per thousand published pieces in their first year on Rowsource (Exhibit 7). The largest fall was at the broadcast newsroom, where most figures reach air through a script nobody traced.

Exhibit · Chart, five desks

Corrections, before and after

Corrections for misquoted figures per 1,000 published pieces.

  • The year before
  • First year on Rowsource
  • All five desks

SourceFive desks’ corrections logs, table C2

Checked

Tracedby Rowsource

Exhibit 7. Corrections for misquoted figures per 1,000 published pieces at five sample desks, the year before and the first year on Rowsource.

Readers

  • “It took four minutes to find the table everyone had been misquoting.”

    On tracing the 47 percent figure with Rowsource, the week the Post corrected its June story. Sample quote.

A research editor with short dark curly hair in an oatmeal sweater, late window light on the wall behind her.
Generated photograph of a fictional reader.

Plans

8

A desk licence covers every trace your team runs.

Start a trace

A Rowsource desk licence is £480 a month for up to six people, with no limit on traces. Your archive stays yours: export it whole at any time, or take it with you if you leave (Exhibit 8).

Desk

£480

a month, billed monthly

For one research desk of up to six people.

  • Unlimited traces
  • Your archive and public records
  • The news and policy index
  • Exports and citations

Newsroom

£1,650

a month, billed yearly

For newsrooms that run several desks, up to 25 people.

  • Everything in Desk
  • A shared corrections log
  • Single sign-on
  • A named research lead

Institute

£2,400

a month and up, billed yearly

For institutes and councils that publish their own figures.

  • Everything in Newsroom
  • Your releases indexed on publication
  • An audit trail for each published figure
  • Hosting in the UK

Sample prices in pounds, before VAT.

Exhibit · Desk settings

The desk licence

The Calder Evening Post’s licence, as its research desk sees it.

Calder Evening Post

Research desk

LicenceActive since March 2025Renews 1 October 2026
Plan
Desk licence
Price
£480 a month
Seats
4 of 6 used
  • TracesNo limit · 212 run this month
  • SourcesYour archive, public records and 212 indexed sources
  • ReportsLink, print or export any trace as a table
  • ArchiveKept while you subscribe, handed over in full if you leave

SourcePrice list 2026, table 1, row 1

Checked

Tracedby Rowsource

Exhibit 8. A desk licence, rebuilt from the settings screen. Sample desk and people.

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