Facts, Opinions, Assumptions and Interpretations

Much confusion in conversations, news and even our own thinking comes from treating different kinds of statements as if they were the same. A simple set of distinctions helps.

• Fact: a claim that can, in principle, be checked against evidence. "The meeting started at 10:20."
• Interpretation: an explanation of what facts mean. "The meeting started late because people don't take it seriously."
• Assumption: something taken for granted, often unstated. "Punctuality reflects how seriously people take something."
• Opinion: a judgment or preference. "Our meetings are a waste of time."

Calling something a fact does not mean it is certainly true; it means it is the kind of claim that evidence can settle. Factual claims can be well supported, poorly supported or false. Scientific findings are factual claims that are continually tested, and some are revised.

Opinions, by contrast, are not settled by evidence alone, though good opinions take evidence into account. "This policy reduced unemployment" is a factual claim; "This policy was worth its cost" also involves values.

Assumptions are powerful because they are invisible. Two people can agree on every fact and still reach opposite conclusions because they hold different assumptions. Bringing assumptions into the open often turns an argument into a conversation.

Useful questions include: What would have to be true for this conclusion to follow? What is being taken for granted here? Would someone from a different background take the same thing for granted?

Research on misinformation suggests that people are more likely to accept claims that fit their existing beliefs and to scrutinise claims that challenge them. Studies of "lateral reading" — checking what other sources say about a source rather than staying on one page — found that professional fact-checkers used this strategy more than many other skilled readers and evaluated sources more accurately.

These findings support a practical habit: before trusting a claim, step outside it and ask who is making it and what others say.

Take any news article, social media post or advertisement. Underline facts in one colour, interpretations in another, opinions in a third, and write unstated assumptions in the margin. The exercise is often revealing — many texts that feel factual contain mostly interpretation.