Reliability of Sources
Information found in historical or genealogical sources can be unreliable and it is good practice to evaluate all sources with a critical eye. Factors influencing the reliability of genealogical information include: the knowledge of the informant (or writer); the bias and mental state of the informant (or writer); the passage of time and the potential for copying and compiling errors.
The quality of census data has been of special interest to historians, who have investigated reliability issues.
Read more about this topic: Genealogy
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