Assessing Credibility of People and Claims

To assess the credibility of a person use the raven formula:

Reputation (what other people think of the person e.g. are they known to be honest or are they a known liar or criminal)

Ability to see/ hear/ feel/ smell/ taste (How able they are to see the incident e.g. were they there when it occured or are they recalling a story somebody else told them)

Vested interest (to lie or tell the truth) (Do they have something to lose or gain from the incident? e.g. if someone was accused of stealing they would have something to lose as if they were found to be guilty they could lose their job or worse)

Expertise/ experience (How much do they know about the subject e.g. are they a professional in the field or have they had no experience of the subject at all)

Neutrality (or bias) (are they in favour of one side over the other for example someone may support their friend over a stranger and this may change their perception of the event)