Get Started | TED – Truth Effect Database (TED)

Using TED for Your Own Research

The Truth Effect Database (TED) is an open resource built for researchers investigating the illusory truth effect.
We place no restrictions on usage — feel free to explore, analyze, and publish with it.

Please remember:
🔔 All studies used in your final dataset must be cited individually.

A full overview of the available variables is available here:

Variable Overview

Have questions? Get in touch with us — we’re happy to help.

How to Extract Data

TED is distributed as a single SQLite file. You can use any standard SQL tool or our custom R package for more user-friendly querying.

Download the Database

The latest version of the database is available on GitHub:

TED Database Repository

Option 1: Use SQL Directly

Open and explore the ted.db file using:

R (DBI, RSQLite)
DB Browser for SQLite
Python (sqlite3, pandas)
Any SQL client or CLI tool

Option 2: Use Our R Package `acdcquery`

Use our R package acdcquery to simplify filtering and querying.

🔧 Installation

install.packages("acdcquery")  # from CRAN

📂 Connect to the Database

library(acdcquery)

# Replace with your local path
conn <- connect_to_db("path/to/ted.db")

🔍 Filter and Query

# Query all entries with a publication ID greater than 0
library(dplyr)

args <- list() %>% 
  add_argument(conn, "publication_id", "greater", "0")

full_data <- query_db(
  conn,
  args,
  c("default", "study_id", "publication_id"),
  "observation_table"
)

Summary

✅ Use TED data freely — no permission required
✅ Query using SQL or the acdcquery R package
✅ Always cite all studies used
✅ Contact us with questions or feedback

We’re excited to see what you discover!