This blog post is part of a series on storing uncertain data in nodegoat: 'How to store uncertain data in nodegoat', 'Incomplete source material', 'Conflicting information', 'Ambiguous identities'.

When you work your way through your source material, you might encounter two sources that deal with the same subject but contain contradictory data. In these cases, you usually have two options: you either choose one of the sources based on its reliability, or you make an interpretation that combines the data from both sources. To account for disagreement in your sources, a third option is to include both statements in your dataset. This blog post will show you how to include conflicting information in your nodegoat project.

This blog post uses the data model that was created in the nodegoat guide 'Create your first Type'. If you haven't set up a data model in your nodegoat environment yet, you can follow this guide to do so. If you already have a data model, you can apply the steps discussed below in your own data model.

The multiple births of John Chamberlayne

The Dictionary of National Biography of 1887 writes that John Chamberlayne was born 'about 1666'.

Leslie Stephen, Dictionary of National Biography, v. 10 (Elder Smith & Co., 1887), page 9. Available at wikisource.

In a more recent lemma, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2009 version), he is said to be born in '1668/9'.

The first source, published in 1887, does not give any details on the way in which the statement 'about 1666' was formulated. The second source, first published in 2004, states that he matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford, on 7 April 1685, aged sixteen. This fact has allowed the author to conclude that he must have been born in either 1668 or 1669. This assumption rests on two premises: that the matriculation record lists an exact age (and not an estimate) and that John Chamberlayne knew the date of his birthday precisely (which in the 17th century was not necessarily the case).[....]