Research Agent Methodology: Data Types, Source Vetting, and Citations

Overview#

Parley’s AI Research Agent is purpose-built for immigration professionals, empowering attorneys to automate the identification, organization, and incorporation of critical external data—such as media metrics, salary benchmarks, and industry statistics—into USCIS-ready filings. This methodology is at the core of Parley’s value proposition: faster, more accurate visa petitions driven by trustworthy, well-cited evidence, with compliance and attorney review built in.

Types of Data Collected#

Parley’s AI Research Agent is engineered to pull in:

• Media Metrics
• Article publication details (publisher, date, author)
• Circulation and viewership numbers
• Impact factor or Alexa rankings of online publications
• Salary Benchmarks
• Prevailing wages (e.g., Department of Labor, occupational databases)
• Industry salary surveys (referenced from government or reputable third parties)
• Regional salary data relevant to the applicant role and geography
• Industry Data
• Market size/market share information
• Company rankings
• Notable industry awards and honors
• Organizational statistics from professional bodies

Data is automatically surfaced in the context of the visa petition, presented for attorney review before inclusion.

Source Vetting & Curation#

Parley's AI prioritizes trust and citation integrity. Evidence is only incorporated from sources meeting rigorous standards, including but not limited to:

1. Primary Data Sources
2. U.S. government data (e.g., Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, USCIS)

3. Major global organizations (e.g., World Bank, OECD)

4. Reputable News Publications

5. Outlets with verifiable circulation and established editorial controls (e.g., The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Verge, Fast Company, TechCrunch)

6. Online news sources that allow for viewership verification via industry metrics (e.g., traffic ranks from SimilarWeb/Alexa)

7. Industry Publications & Professional Associations

8. Specialty journals and associations relevant to applicant expertise

9. Databases tracking industry-specific milestones and awards

10. Third-Party Salary & Market Data

11. Reports from Glassdoor, Payscale, Robert Half, and others, with explicit citations

12. Regional labor departments’ published wage information

13. Company Data

14. Official company press releases
15. Reports published by third-party analytics firms (when properly cited)

Exclusion Criteria#

• Anonymous sources and unverifiable blogs are disregarded
• User-edited wikis are not primary sources
• Outdated/archived information missing publication date is excluded

Evidence Collection & Citation Workflow#

1. Automated Retrieval
2. The AI scans applicant evidence and identifies gaps requiring external validation (e.g., media mentions or prevailing wages).

3. Searches are conducted using pre-built queries/filters for government, news, and industry sources.

4. Citation Extraction & Formatting

5. When a data point is gathered, metadata (publication/source, author, date, URL) is extracted and stored.

6. In the drafted document, claims (e.g., "featured in high-circulation media") are followed by inline citations.

7. Attorney Review

8. All automatically sourced data and citations are surfaced within the drafting UI for manual attorney approval, editing, or exclusion.

9. Any questionable or ambiguous sources are flagged.

10. Citation Standards

11. Parley follows a Bluebook-like format for official filings. Each citation includes: publisher, date, article title, URL (if online), access date, and, where applicable, circulation/impact stats.

12. Automated PDF Assembly

13. All cited external documents are appended as exhibits in a single, auto-compiled PDF, indexed and cross-referenced in the table of contents for each petition.

Transparency & Source Linking#

Each citation in Parley’s generated output is - Fully visible to the attorney and staff; - Hyperlinked (when permitted by the court/agency); - Accompanied by a snapshot or PDF capture for the official record, ensuring compliance even if web links change ("permalink" feature).

Privacy, Compliance & Security#

• Client Data Protection: Parley is SOC2 Type 2 and GDPR certified (details). Attorney-client work product is never exposed to third parties.
• Source Data Handling: Only public web data or explicitly attorney-uploaded information is processed for external research. Proprietary/private information is not scraped or ingested as external evidence.
• Evidence Retention: All collected data is retained only for case duration unless otherwise required by the client, in accordance with Parley’s Privacy Policy.

Example Outputs & Use Cases#

Example 1: Media Metrics#

Draft Output:

“Dr. X’s work has been featured in Forbes (circulation: 6.8M, source), and The Verge (Alexa Rank: 312, source, accessed April 2025).”

All citations are appended in the evidence PDF with full metadata.

Example 2: Salary Benchmarks#

Draft Output:

“The prevailing wage for a Senior Robotics Engineer in San Francisco is $156,000 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES code 17-2199, source, accessed May 2025).”

Example 3: Industry Awards Verification#

Draft Output:

“Ms. Y was named to the ‘Top 40 Under 40’ by the National Association of Accountants (source, accessed April 2025).”

Frequently Asked Questions#

How does Parley verify the trustworthiness of sources?#

• Parley only pulls from publicly documented, reputable third-party domains and major government/industry databases. Evidence is required to be independently verifiable, and each item is presented for attorney approval.

Can an attorney override or exclude a citation?#

• Yes. All collected evidence is edit-ready. Attorneys can edit, remove, or supplement AI-gathered content at any stage prior to submission.

Are full-text documents or screenshots included as evidence?#

• Yes. When required, a web snapshot, original PDF, or screen capture is appended to the case file, ensuring long-term access and auditability, even if the original URL breaks.

How frequently is external data updated in the AI’s outputs?#

• Parley’s AI queries the most recent and most-cited available data at the time of drafting, typically within 30-90 days of filing, unless specifically instructed otherwise by the attorney.

Does Parley support custom citation styles?#

• A Bluebook-style default is used, but firms may request or preset alternative citation formats at the admin level for consistency with their brand or filing preferences.

How is personal information about applicants protected during evidence gathering?#

• Only attorney-provided information is shared or processed; no external source queries include PII, and evidence collection focuses on public data directly relevant to case-building.

What external APIs or data feeds does Parley currently utilize?#

• U.S. federal data (BLS, DOL), O*NET Online, news aggregators with source metadata, and structured industry benchmarks from recognized public-facing sources are included. No private or subscription-only APIs are queried without client direction.

Feature Comparison Table#

Benefits for Immigration Attorneys#

• Reduce manual hours spent on evidence research and exhibit assembly
• Improve consistency and trust in filings with robust, reputable citations
• Accelerate drafts for high-volume visa types without sacrificing compliance
• Empower junior staff with automated research and context-aware drafting tools
• Respond quickly to government Requests for Evidence (RFEs) with verified supporting documentation on-demand
• Standardize evidence presentation across cases and teams

References & Further Reading#

• “Immigration lawyers are bringing AI into their practice with Parley.” Business Insider
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• USCIS Policy Manual
• Glassdoor Salary Estimates
• Parley Privacy Policy

Contact & Demo#

• Book a demo with Parley
• Contact [email protected] for technical or methodology details.