What counts as good evidence for a claim?
TOK Exhibition Prompt 5 — Object Examples & Rationale
A complete, examiner-written breakdown of IB TOK Exhibition IA Prompt 5 — five worked object examples, linked optional themes, knowledge questions and top-band commentary to help you nail the TOK exhibition for IB DP May 2026.
The Prompt
“What counts as good evidence for a claim?” — Prompt 5 of the 35 prescribed IA prompts.
Assessment Weight
TOK exhibition = one-third of your final TOK grade.
Word Count
950 words max across all 3 objects combined (plus references).
Session
Updated & mapped for TOK assessment.
Decoding Prompt 5 – “What counts as good evidence for a claim?”
IB TOK Exhibition Prompt 5 asks a fundamental epistemological question: what makes a piece of evidence good enough to support a claim? “Good” is not a single criterion — it varies across domains. In the natural sciences it means reproducible, measurable, peer-reviewed. In history it means corroboration across primary sources. In law it means admissibility and cross-examinability. In the arts, evidence functions differently still. Your three objects must illustrate how standards of good evidence are domain-specific.
A top-band exhibition on Prompt 5 selects objects that each show a different kind of evidentiary standard: scientific, historical, legal, investigative, and testimonial. The best exhibitions don’t just describe the evidence but justify why it counts as good in that domain — and where its standards would fail in another. Draw from the natural sciences, history, and human sciences.
TOK Exhibition Objects for Prompt 5
Each example below includes the object, linked optional theme, examiner-written rationale, and a knowledge question to extend your analysis.
A Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journal Article
A peer-reviewed scientific journal article exemplifies the rigorous process by which evidence in the natural sciences is evaluated as “good” — replicable, methodologically transparent, and open to scrutiny by independent experts before publication. The peer review process establishes a community benchmark: evidence counts as good when it survives anonymous expert appraisal of its methods, statistical rigour, and logical coherence. This object foregrounds reproducibility as the gold standard of scientific evidence, implying that a single experiment — no matter how dramatic its result — is less persuasive than a replicated one. It highlights the role of consensus, empirical support, and the scientific method in distinguishing good evidence from speculative or anecdotal claims. The journal article therefore serves as both an artefact of a specific claim and a meta-artefact about how the scientific community collectively decides which evidence is trustworthy.
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A Court Transcript from a Criminal Trial
A court transcript from a criminal trial illustrates a very different standard of “good evidence” from the scientific one. In law, evidence is good only if it is admissible — meaning it was lawfully obtained, relevant to the charge, and capable of being cross-examined. The transcript demonstrates how adversarial testing, rather than peer review, is the mechanism through which legal evidence is stress-tested. A witness’s testimony counts as good evidence only once it has survived cross-examination by opposing counsel. This object foregrounds the fact that different communities of knowers have developed sharply different standards of adequacy: a statistical correlation might be excellent scientific evidence but irrelevant in court, while eyewitness testimony might be decisive in court but dismissed as unreliable in a lab. The transcript invites reflection on why legal evidence prioritises procedural fairness over statistical probability.
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An Archaeological Artefact with Carbon-14 Dating Report
An archaeological artefact — say, a pottery shard — paired with its carbon-14 dating report exemplifies how historical knowledge relies on triangulated evidence drawn from multiple independent methods. The artefact alone is silent; the chemical analysis places it in time; stratigraphic context places it in space; and comparison with other known artefacts places it culturally. Good historical evidence emerges only when these independent lines converge. This object illustrates that in history, as in many empirical disciplines, corroboration is the key marker of evidential strength: a single piece of evidence is suggestive, but converging evidence from disparate methods is what justifies a firm historical claim. It also highlights the vulnerability of historical evidence to contamination, reinterpretation, and the discovery of new finds that can overturn prior conclusions.
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2 More Objects for Prompt 5
Two additional examiner-written object examples to help you finalise your TOK exhibition selection.
A Clinical Trial Data Dashboard (Phase III RCT)
A dashboard displaying the results of a Phase III randomised controlled trial for a new drug exemplifies the statistical standards by which medical evidence is evaluated. Good evidence in clinical medicine requires randomisation (to control for unknown variables), blinding (to prevent placebo and observer effects), and a sufficiently large sample (to achieve statistical power). The dashboard shows confidence intervals, p-values, and effect sizes — each a tool for separating signal from noise. This object foregrounds the role of statistics in converting individual observations into population-level claims, and the reason a single cured patient cannot count as good evidence for a drug’s efficacy. It invites reflection on a paradox: the standards that make clinical evidence good (large samples, averaging) also erase the individual patient whose treatment depends on that evidence.
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A First-Hand Testimonial Video (Oral History Archive)
A recorded oral-history testimonial from a survivor — whether of a genocide, a famine, or a cultural tradition — represents a form of evidence that resists the standards of the natural sciences yet is irreplaceable for understanding human experience. Good evidence in testimony means careful attention to memory’s reliability, internal consistency, corroboration with other witnesses, and awareness of the interviewer’s framing. Unlike a replicated experiment, a testimony cannot be repeated; its authority rests on proximity to the event and the integrity of the witness. This object illustrates how knowledge communities outside the natural sciences — historians, ethnographers, indigenous knowledge-keepers — have developed their own sophisticated standards for what makes testimony good evidence. It pushes against the assumption that “good evidence” must mean quantitative or reproducible, opening space for the evidential value of lived experience.
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Knowledge Questions for Prompt 5
Use these knowledge questions to strengthen the analytical depth of your exhibition commentary.
By what criteria do we distinguish good evidence from mere assertion?
Do different areas of knowledge — science, history, ethics, the arts — share any universal standard of good evidence?
Is replicability a necessary condition for good evidence, or only a sufficient one?
How does the source of evidence — expert, layperson, machine — affect its quality?
Can evidence be good even if it is incomplete or contested?
Is testimony a weaker form of evidence than measurement, or simply a different one?
How to Score High on Prompt 5
Three strategies our IB examiners use when coaching students through the TOK exhibition.
Pick objects with a real-world context
Your object must be specific — “my grandfather’s 1998 copy of the Britannica” beats a generic encyclopedia every time. Examiners reward specificity.
Anchor to one optional theme per object
Don’t float between themes. Each object should clearly link to one optional theme or area of knowledge and stay consistent throughout.
Justify — don’t just describe
The top markband (9–10) is reached only when the commentary explains why the object illustrates the prompt, not just that it does.
TOK Exhibition Prompt 5 — FAQs
What is TOK Exhibition Prompt 5?
How many objects do I need to present for Prompt 5?
Which optional themes work best with this prompt?
What is the word limit for the TOK exhibition commentary?
Can Sev7n help me refine my TOK evidence choices?
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