Obtaining reliable records of ancient geomagnetic field behaviour is essential to developing a long-term understanding of the geodynamo and hence the evolution of Earths deep interior. The reliability of data pertaining to the strength of the geomagnetic field (paleointensity), however, is difficult to assert due to several factors that can lead to inaccurate results or failure of experiments. A key process of all paleointensity studies is therefore the selection of data deemed to be sufficiently reliable to yield an accurate measure of the ancient field strength. Until now, however, the choice of which selection parameters and which critical thresholds to use has been completely arbitrary. It is essential that the process of selecting paleointensity data is refined and conducted on a more objective basis.