> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.simulant.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How grounding works

> Why every Simulant persona is built on the official record, and how that keeps results defensible.

Simulant is built on the official record — not vibes. Every persona is grounded in real data, and every response traces back to the signals behind it. This is what lets a result survive the room, the audit, and the front page.

## Model outcomes, not opinions

People are unreliable narrators of themselves. A survey captures what someone *says* they'll do; Simulant optimizes for what a population actually *does*, grounded in the measurable record. That distinction is why simulated results can track — and sometimes beat — traditional fieldwork.

## The record

Personas are built from official, high-quality sources, including:

| Source                  | What it contributes                     | Coverage     |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------ |
| **Census**              | Population, demographics, and geography | Official     |
| **Electoral studies**   | Voting behavior and political attitudes | Longitudinal |
| **Social cohesion**     | Trust, values, and community sentiment  | Annual       |
| **Household panels**    | 17,000+ people tracked over two decades | Longitudinal |
| **World Values Survey** | Global attitudes, values, and beliefs   | Global       |
| **Media and comms**     | Channel reach and media consumption     | National     |

You can add your own [datasets](/data/datasets) on top of these to sharpen the population around your specific market.

<Frame caption="Grounding in practice — a cohort is built by toggling named source datasets, and the preview shows a real, data-backed respondent.">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/simulant/j7X70BC9NUZuF_VF/images/app/cohort-builder.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=j7X70BC9NUZuF_VF&q=85&s=7acdabe5f8b310a5a258fa33e09fab2d" alt="Cohort builder showing official source datasets and a grounded sample respondent with vote intention" width="1428" height="779" data-path="images/app/cohort-builder.png" />
</Frame>

## Traceable by design

Because personas are grounded in named sources, results are auditable:

* A [cohort](/guides/cohorts) records which datasets it's built from.
* A [test](/guides/tests) records the cohort, the sample, and the real-world context of the run.
* Verbatims and metrics carry the reasoning behind them, not just a score.

<Note>
  Grounding is what makes Simulant defensible in high-stakes work — campaigns, cabinets, and boardrooms — where a decision has to be explained, not just asserted.
</Note>

## Validation

In a blind back-test, Simulant reproduced a national attitudes study — six months of fieldwork — in a single night. Where the simulated results diverged from the survey, follow-up found Simulant was closer to the truth.

<Card title="Add your own data" icon="upload" href="/data/datasets">
  Ground the population in signal specific to your market.
</Card>