Verification method
How a record’s last check was performed — whether the source page was re-read in full, or compared against a stored fingerprint of its previous state. Two records with the same verification date can rest on different evidence.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called How it was checked · Check method
In detail
A date alone hides an important difference. Confirming that a page is byte-for-byte unchanged is weaker evidence than re-reading it and re-extracting every field, and a catalogue that presents both as "verified" is flattening the distinction that matters.
The cheap check exists because the expensive one cannot run on everything every night. A structural fingerprint of the parsed fields answers "does this page still say what it said" without paying a model to re-read it, which is what makes daily coverage affordable at all.
Storing the method keeps the trade-off visible. It is the difference between a freshness number that means something and one that is merely large.
Against the verification date
The date says when; the method says how well. Both are needed to know what a check is worth, and a record checked cheaply yesterday is not straightforwardly better evidence than one re-read fully last week. Publishing the date without the method would make the weaker check indistinguishable from the stronger one, which is the failure this field exists to prevent.
How GrantTrove stores it
- The method is stored beside the date on every record rather than being an internal detail of the pipeline.
- The fingerprint lives in its own column rather than sharing one with anything else, so it cannot be overwritten by unrelated data and quietly invalidate the checks that depend on it.
Common questions
Is a fingerprint check good enough?
For detecting that a page has not changed, yes. For confirming a field that a page never stated clearly, no — which is why the method is published rather than assumed.
Why not re-read everything every night?
Cost. Full re-extraction on every record daily would not be affordable, and a catalogue that could not afford to check anything would be worse than one that checks cheaply and says so.
Can I see which method was used on a record?
Yes. It is stored per record rather than as a pipeline-wide setting.