Module 02 · CGDA — Governance & Diplomacy
Policy Data & Legislative Tracking
Building a defensible dataset: provenance, verification discipline, and the honest recording of uncertainty.
Study time: 55 min
By the end of this module you can
- Design a record schema that makes an uncited claim impossible
- Distinguish a primary source from a tracker and weight them accordingly
- Record conflicts and gaps instead of resolving them silently
Overview
A dataset is only as good as the moment it refuses to guess. This module builds the discipline behind a defensible record: a schema that makes an uncited claim structurally impossible, the difference between a primary source and a tracker, and the habit of recording conflicts and gaps instead of resolving them silently. It works directly from Green Diplomat's own published corpus methodology.
Exercise
Design the minimum fields a record needs so that no claim can exist without a source. Compare against the Radar's schema.
Find a case where two trackers disagree. Record the conflict as data rather than picking a winner.
Self-check
Check your understanding
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Stage, not existence: adoption and operation are different legal moments.
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Provenance (source and date) is what lets a reader check the claim themselves.
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Many carbon-market laws spend years in this stage before obligations bind.