Methodological Transparency.
What PLOT. publishes about its own reporting method, data analysis and the construction of its visualisations.
Updated — First editorial cycle — 2026
Why we publish our method
A data-driven investigation can only be assessed if the path to its conclusions is visible. That is why every PLOT. publication is accompanied by a description of the method used — not as a technical appendix, but as part of the story itself.
What we describe in every publication
- The investigative question and the hypothesis that guided the reporting.
- The documentary sources used and their origin.
- The databases analysed, with time frame and the party responsible for producing them.
- The transformations applied to the data: cleaning, standardisation, cross-referencing and aggregation.
- The criteria for including and excluding records.
- Known limitations and what the data cannot support claiming.
Open data
Whenever source protection and data-protection law allow it, the laboratory publishes the processed datasets in open formats, together with a data dictionary.
When a dataset cannot be published, we explain why.
Visualisations
Maps, charts and interactive visualisations indicate their source, reference period and unit of analysis. Scales and cuts are chosen to represent the data faithfully, and uncertainties or gaps are shown rather than smoothed over.
Reproducibility
The laboratory keeps a record of the analytical steps of every investigation, so that results can be reconstructed from the original datasets. Corrections to analyses follow the Corrections Policy.
Questions about method
Researchers, journalists and readers can request methodological clarifications through the laboratory's institutional channel: contato@plotlab.org.