To describe a perspective fairly, state who holds the view, what they say and the reasons they give, using only what the source shows. A good description lets a member of that group read it and say, “Yes, that is what we argued.”
This skill sits at the start of comparing perspectives and supports every later comparison, because you cannot compare views you have described badly.
What counts as local and wider?
A local perspective comes from people close to the issue: residents, workers, school students, a village committee. A wider perspective comes from a larger scale: a national agency, a regional association, a research institute or an international body.
Scale is not a ranking. A local view knows daily detail, while a wider view may see patterns across many places.
Each has blind spots, and you describe both without ranking them.
How do stereotypes sneak in?
A stereotype is a fixed picture applied to everyone in a group. It usually appears as a sweeping word (all, always, typical) or as a trait instead of a reason (“they are traditional”, “they only care about money”).
Fair description replaces the trait with the stated reason and the source it came from. Describe what was said and by whom, not what kind of people must have said it.
A four-step method
- Name the source and its position. Who is speaking, and from where?
- State the view in their terms. Use the source’s own reasons, not your guess.
- Limit the claim to the evidence. One survey represents one survey, not a whole community.
- Check your wording. Remove sweeping words and personality labels.
Worked example
All sources below are invented for practice.
Issue: a proposed marina at the invented town of Pantai Hijau.
Source A (invented): a residents’ association survey of 120 households reports that 74 households (62%) opposed the marina. The stated reasons are noise and loss of access to the beach.
Source B (invented): a regional tourism board report supports the marina. Its stated reason is that it would add moorings for visiting boats and create jobs in services.
Fair description: “A residents’ association survey of 120 households found 62% opposed to the marina, citing noise and beach access. A regional tourism board report supports it, citing moorings for visitors and service jobs.”
Check: 74 ÷ 120 = 0.6166…, which rounds to 62%. The description names the source, the position, the stated reasons and the size of the survey.
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken description: “Locals are stuck in the past and refuse any change, while outsiders only want profit.”
This swaps stated reasons for personality labels and treats both groups as one voice. It also quietly judges them. The correction is the fair description above: it reports reasons and keeps the claim to what Sources A and B actually say.
Check yourself
1. Rewrite fairly: “Young people always want to leave the village.”
Show answer
“Source: a school survey (invented) reports that 30 of 50 Year 11 students said they planned to study in a city, mainly citing course choice.” The sweeping word “always” is removed and a source, a number and a reason are added.
2. A national agency report supports a new road. Is that a wider or local perspective, and why?
Show answer
Wider, because the view comes from a body working at national scale, not from the people living beside the road. Say so without suggesting it is more or less valid.
3. Spot the stereotype: “Farmers are against every new rule.”
Show answer
“Every new rule” is a sweeping claim about a whole group. A fair version names one farmers’ group and the rule it objected to, plus its stated reason.
Where this leads next
Next, learn to separate a participant’s stated view from an inferred motive, and test yourself later with the comparing perspectives practice set.
Some students find this skill harder than it looks because fair wording takes careful drafting. Our teachers can work through your own phrasing in online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition.