What do you do with investigative facts?
This concept is the foundation of your first step in an interview. You learn all the properties of a given fact and you do not just accept anything as fact before you know all of the “fact’s” properties. You ask all the ‘W’s about a “fact” such as who, what, when, where, why, and how come. Every time you hear any tidbit that you think you’re going to have to rely on for future interviews or findings make sure you know all the characteristics of that piece of information. For example, if somebody says, “Oh, well, you know, that happened seven times,” you need to ask “How do you know it’s happened seven times? Who else saw it happen seven times? Where did it happen seven times? On what day did it happen seven times?”
So anytime you get an investigative fact that you are going to end up relying upon, either in your report or to get other facts, or for any investigative conclusions of any size or flavor, you need to establish that the fact is relyable.
