METHODOLOGY.md

Methodology

Principle

The knowledge base must be reproducible from the Bundestag DIP API. No political promise or status claim is invented by the application.

Data sources

The application uses the DIP REST API endpoints for:

• proceedings (vorgang),
• procedure positions (vorgangsposition),
• parliamentary printed papers (drucksache and drucksache-text),
• plenary protocols (plenarprotokoll and plenarprotokoll-text),
• activities (aktivitaet),
• persons (person).

The app stores raw JSON in JSONL format and a normalized CSV for the dashboard.

Evidence versus promise status

A DIP record can show that a legislative procedure, document, activity, or debate exists. It does not by itself prove that a campaign or coalition promise is completed. The manual tracker therefore has a separate reviewed_status field.

Recommended labels:

• Completed: evidence directly shows that the promised legal or administrative action was completed.
• In progress: formal steps exist, but implementation is not complete.
• Not started: no relevant evidence has been found.
• Broken: evidence shows reversal, abandonment, or a missed deadline.
• Needs human review: evidence is relevant but insufficient for a status decision.

Auditability

For every fetched record, keep:

• DIP resource type,
• DIP ID,
• API URL,
• PDF URL where returned,
• retrieval timestamp,
• raw API JSON.