How is Certainty related to Surety?

Question

Under the theory that there are no dumb questions... I'm sure this has been hashed out before somewhere.

I'm returning to genealogy after a rather long break and I'm new to WikiTree. I will date myself by saying that the last time I was seriously working on genealogy I used the program The Master Genealogist. I loved TMG and was despondent when it was discontinued.

My question, however, is: How does the concept of certainty used in WikiTree relate to that of surety that was used in TMG? I found surety rather straight-forward. It has been so long, I don’t remember the codes exactly, but they ranged from (1) a primary source or first-hand observation to (5?) hearsay. For example, a birth certificate could provide a surety of 1 for parents, date and place of birth, and gender at birth. A census record would not provide a surety of 1 for any of those, but it is a first-hand observation of residence. The definitions of the surety values made it (generally) straight-forward to assign a value.

In contrast, I find the certain/uncertain distinction to be somewhat squishy, or perhaps I should say I find it overly black or white. Surety allowed me to describe what I had found. Certainty forces me to make a value judgment.

Answer 1

I agree with you that a surety scale is not accommodated in WikiTree nor any program or platform that I am aware of other than TMG. Most people find a birth certificate more reliable than grandma's oral communication. The thing that TMG was good at was that a surety scale essentially flagged the exceptions.

The way I do that on WikiTree is to use the Research Notes to mark those exceptions. If you know, for example, that a birth certificate which we assume to be a reliable source misspelled a name, we can explain it in the Research Notes. If we think oral communication was exactly right we can explain why we came to that conclusion.

I love the Research Notes section in WikiTree and think it is even better than assigning a surety number as it gives the opportunity to explain when surety differs from the expected.

Barbara ~ who uses TMG to this day and is hopeful that the History Research Environment will be available some day

Comments

Thank you Barbara! Great suggestion. I will have to practice using Research Notes more.

Answer 2

A lot of people prefer it to be black-or-white.  Makes it easier to judge, rather than working through several shades of charcoal or smoky or silver or whatever.  So:
1. if it has a source, where it actually says specifically (like a date), it is "certain"
2. if it doesn't have a source, it is "uncertain" (or a guesstimate, or an I-think-it's-right, or "probably right")

This is where we delve into the realms of "reliable" and "unreliable" sources.  Each Project has their own list.  Here is the England Project's list:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:England_Project_Reliable_Sources

Comments

This is further complicated by the fact that for birth dates (for example) the choice on WikiTree is not between "certain" and "uncertain". It is "exact/certain" versus "about/uncertain".

"1 January 1900" is an exact date, and is also certain, as Ros says, if there is a fully reliable source asserting it. But "1900" is not an exact date, even though with a good source it may be certain as far as it goes.

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Yes, I have found this confusing / annoying as well.