Reading · Integration of knowledge & ideas
Integrating Multiple Sources & Formats
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Start here: your learning goal
Combine sources while preserving differences in population, date, and method.
Read the explanations, try the quick checks, then take the lesson quiz to see what to review next.
Integration means using more than one source to answer a question that no single source answers fully. Sources may agree, complement one another or conflict. Your conclusion must preserve important limits instead of forcing a simple answer.
Align the sources before combining them
Define the question first. Then record each source's group, date, location, unit, method and main finding. Visits, visitors and percentage satisfied are different measures. Counts from unequal populations cannot be compared as if they were rates. A 2020 survey and a 2026 count may both be accurate while describing different conditions.
Worked example: a text plus a table
A fictional library memo states that an evening pilot was intended to improve access for workers finishing after 5 p.m. The accompanying table records visits during the same four-week periods:
| Time | Before pilot | During pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Before 5 p.m. | 400 | 380 |
| After 5 p.m. | 100 | 180 |
| Total | 500 | 560 |
The memo supplies the goal; the table supplies outcomes in visits. Evening visits rose by 80 and total visits by 60 because earlier visits fell by 20. Together they suggest increased use of the evening hours. They do not identify visitors' jobs, unique visitor counts, satisfaction or a causal effect isolated from other changes.
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