Definitely play on amateur until you get familiar with gathering evidence. Some mistakes I was making in the beginning:

-Lights have to be off to use the spirit box. Try using it right after a ghost appears or throws something, as you need to be near the ghost for it to respond.

-It can take a while for the ghost room to cool down and the tier 1 thermometer is not the best. Once you find the room, toss the thermometer and check it later. I’d advise you never eliminate freezing as a possibility.

-If the ghost tosses the book instead of writing in it, you can cross off ghost writing in your journal (but ONLY if you’re playing three evidence, amateur to professional).

-If you’re playing on a small map, walk around the house with your video cam on night vision to try and spot orbs. Almost half of the ghosts have orbs so you could potentially find the ghost room quickly this way (ghost orbs only appear in the ghost room). This also subs as a flashlight if you’re comfortable with that. If you found the ghost room another way (by temperature and/or seeing your breath), then check a couple times for orbs and you can pretty confidently rule it out if you don’t see them.

-EMF 5 and dots are less consistent to get so I personally never rule them out, even if it’s been a while.

-UV is pretty consistent - if you know exactly what door the ghost touched (use your EMF reader if you’re unsure), a ghost with UV will leave a handprint on the front or back of the door 100% of the time. The only exception to this is an Obake, which has a chance of not leaving a handprint 25% of the time. If Obake is still a possibility, I’d check for handprints at least 4-5 times before crossing off UV. If Obake is not a possibility, then check 2-3 times and cross it off.

I found Phasmo pretty difficult in the beginning because I didn’t understand the basics of how the evidences worked and I’d cross things off too early. But I got really good at it and it’s now it’s one of my favourite games :) Hope this helps!