{
    "model": {
        "rank": 4351,
        "code": "thing-q185698",
        "model_id": "vr.tr.methodology",
        "name": "methodology",
        "purpose": "Let an agent explain what a methodology is and how it differs from a method, help describe or assess a research methodology by its components, relay standards and reporting guidelines from disciplines, and separate methodology from particular techniques and from named frameworks.",
        "family": "Thing Registry",
        "category": "Activities and processes",
        "status": "research-draft",
        "kind": "thing",
        "plane": "ACT",
        "domain": "ACT.ACT",
        "industry": "",
        "version": "",
        "url": "/models/thing/q185698/",
        "tier": 2,
        "score": 76,
        "payload": {
            "layer": "wikidata",
            "aliases": [
                "Learning Lab",
                "Field Force",
                "citizen lab",
                "public health mitigation of COVID-19",
                "fieldwalking",
                "yarning",
                "models of scientific inquiry",
                "Māori research methods",
                "market sounding",
                "systemic-importance assessment methodology",
                "Indigenous methodologies",
                "paleocetology",
                "field research",
                "case study",
                "archaeological field survey",
                "field study",
                "watching brief",
                "systematic survey",
                "Case Study Houses",
                "longitudinal study",
                "cross-sectional study",
                "archaeological building survey",
                "topographical survey",
                "resistivity survey",
                "magnetometry survey",
                "electromagnetic survey method for archaeology",
                "geophysical survey",
                "sounding",
                "magnetic survey",
                "data-driven approach",
                "methodological naturalism",
                "phylogenetic reconciliation",
                "quantitative trait analysis",
                "scientific methodology",
                "methodology of bibliography",
                "pedagogical methodology",
                "methodology of law",
                "metabolic profiling",
                "Minnesota method",
                "tālanoa research methodology"
            ],
            "aliasCount": 82,
            "merged": 82,
            "knownIn": 76,
            "facets": null,
            "markers": [],
            "lexicalClass": "",
            "senseRank": null,
            "alsoRegisteredAs": null,
            "source": {
                "dataset": "wikidata",
                "item": "Q185698",
                "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q185698",
                "license": "CC0 1.0"
            }
        },
        "research": {
            "vercy": "1.0-draft",
            "publication": {
                "status": "research-draft",
                "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed",
                "publishableCanonical": false,
                "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T20:35:42Z",
                "providers": [
                    "Claude"
                ],
                "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify",
                "pass": 2,
                "wave": 3,
                "engine": "claude"
            },
            "metaModel": {
                "id": "THING-Q185698",
                "registryId": "vr.tr.methodology",
                "name": "methodology",
                "version": "0.2.0-wave.3",
                "entryKind": "thing",
                "family": "Thing Registry",
                "domain": [
                    "ACT.ACT"
                ],
                "status": "research-draft"
            },
            "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q185698/",
            "model": {
                "registry_id": "vr.tr.methodology",
                "name": "methodology",
                "purpose": "Let an agent explain what a methodology is and how it differs from a method, help describe or assess a research methodology by its components, relay standards and reporting guidelines from disciplines, and separate methodology from particular techniques and from named frameworks.",
                "definition": "The system of methods, principles and rules followed in a discipline or study, and the reasoned account of why those methods are appropriate; a research methodology sets out design, data collection, analysis and validation, while the word is also used loosely for any structured approach in engineering, management and practice.",
                "what_it_is_for": "Justifying and organising how work is done in a discipline.",
                "affordances": [
                    "distinguish methodology from method and technique",
                    "describe the components of a research methodology",
                    "relay reporting standards by discipline",
                    "assess whether a methodology fits a question"
                ],
                "distinguishing_features": [
                    "Rationale for methods, not only the methods",
                    "Discipline-specific standards",
                    "Documented for reproducibility",
                    "Used loosely in practice for any approach"
                ],
                "appearance": "Not visible; a written section of a study or a documented approach.",
                "visual_identification": [
                    "Reasoned system of methods for a study or discipline",
                    "Covers design, data, analysis and validity",
                    "A method is one procedure; a framework or named practice is a specific instance"
                ],
                "physical_properties": [],
                "families_and_kinds": [
                    "quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research methodologies",
                    "experimental and observational designs",
                    "field methodologies such as fieldwalking and ethnography",
                    "engineering and software methodologies",
                    "participatory and Indigenous methodologies such as yarning",
                    "management and consulting methodologies"
                ],
                "related_models": [
                    {
                        "relation": "is a kind of",
                        "target": "analysis",
                        "why": "a systematic approach"
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is confused with",
                        "target": "method",
                        "why": "a single procedure"
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is described in",
                        "target": "research design",
                        "why": "the planning stage"
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is governed by",
                        "target": "research ethics",
                        "why": "constraints on methods"
                    }
                ],
                "identifiers": [],
                "standards_and_regulation": [
                    "Discipline reporting guidelines such as CONSORT and PRISMA",
                    "Research ethics and integrity codes",
                    "Standards for systematic reviews and trials"
                ],
                "failure_modes_and_hazards": [
                    "Method mismatch with the research question",
                    "Undisclosed changes to methodology",
                    "Using the word for any procedure",
                    "Extractive research without community consent"
                ],
                "in_scope": [],
                "out_of_scope": [],
                "characteristics": []
            },
            "sources": [],
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "concept",
                        "name": "Concept",
                        "description": "What methodology means.",
                        "rationale": "Definition.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "definition",
                                "name": "Definition",
                                "description": "Definition.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "definition-finding",
                                        "name": "Definition",
                                        "description": "Definition.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What is a methodology, and how does it differ from a method, a technique or a framework?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the question about a research methodology or a loosely named approach?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "components",
                                "name": "Components",
                                "description": "Components.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "components-finding",
                                        "name": "Components",
                                        "description": "Components.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What components does a research methodology include, from design to validation?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits research design?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "choose",
                        "name": "Choose",
                        "description": "Choosing and justifying.",
                        "rationale": "Practice.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "fit",
                                "name": "Fit",
                                "description": "Fit to question.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "fit-finding",
                                        "name": "Fit",
                                        "description": "Fit.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How is a methodology chosen and justified for a given question?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits the specific discipline?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "ethics",
                                "name": "Ethics",
                                "description": "Ethics and participation.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "ethics-finding",
                                        "name": "Ethics",
                                        "description": "Ethics.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What ethical and participatory requirements shape methodology, including community-led approaches?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the presentation respectful of Indigenous and community methodologies?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "report",
                        "name": "Report",
                        "description": "Reporting and assessment.",
                        "rationale": "Standards.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "reporting",
                                "name": "Reporting",
                                "description": "Reporting standards.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "reporting-finding",
                                        "name": "Reporting",
                                        "description": "Reporting.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which reporting guidelines apply, and what must a methodology section contain?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which references are standard?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "assessment",
                                "name": "Assessment",
                                "description": "Assessing quality.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "assessment-finding",
                                        "name": "Assessment",
                                        "description": "Assessment.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How is methodological quality assessed in review and peer review?",
                                                "kind": "measurement"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits research quality assessment?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "context",
                        "name": "Context",
                        "description": "Fields and history.",
                        "rationale": "Context.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "fields",
                                "name": "Fields",
                                "description": "Across fields.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "fields-finding",
                                        "name": "Fields",
                                        "description": "Fields.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How do methodologies differ across sciences, humanities, engineering and practice?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits a specific methodology?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "history",
                                "name": "History",
                                "description": "History.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "history-finding",
                                        "name": "History",
                                        "description": "History.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How did methodological thinking develop, and what debates exist, with positions attributed?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the presentation neutral?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "openQuestions": [
                "Should research design be a separate entry?",
                "How should reporting guidelines be linked by discipline?",
                "The registry entry has merged aliases from COVID-19 mitigation to yarning; should they be split off?"
            ],
            "statistics": {
                "bundles": 4,
                "layers": 8,
                "findings": 8,
                "questions": 16
            }
        },
        "draft": {
            "generator": "vr.draft.v3",
            "status": "draft-generated",
            "researched": false,
            "archetype": "abstract concept",
            "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.",
            "facetsInferred": true,
            "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.",
            "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a methodology, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.",
            "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain what a methodology is and how it differs from a method, help describe or assess a research methodology by its components, relay standards and reporting guidelines from disciplines, and separate methodology from particular techniques and from named frameworks.",
            "characteristics": {
                "substance": "activity",
                "origin": "conceptual",
                "agency": "inert"
            },
            "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [
                "observed and measured"
            ],
            "distinguishingFeatures": [
                "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Learning Lab, Field Force, citizen lab, public health mitigation of COVID-19, fieldwalking, yarning, models of scientific inquiry, Māori research methods, market sounding, systemic-importance assessment methodology, Indigenous methodologies, paleocetology.",
                "82 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.",
                "Described in 76 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is."
            ],
            "openQuestionsForResearch": [
                "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?",
                "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?",
                "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a methodology, and on what evidence are they told apart?"
            ],
            "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time",
            "physicalCharacter": [
                "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.",
                "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing."
            ],
            "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [
                "observe it, measure it, record its state"
            ],
            "howItIsRecognised": [
                "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about."
            ],
            "relatedModels": [
                {
                    "relation": "covers",
                    "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.",
                    "targets": [
                        "Learning Lab",
                        "Field Force",
                        "citizen lab",
                        "public health mitigation of COVID-19",
                        "fieldwalking",
                        "yarning",
                        "models of scientific inquiry",
                        "Māori research methods",
                        "market sounding",
                        "systemic-importance assessment methodology",
                        "Indigenous methodologies",
                        "paleocetology"
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "standing": "Described in 76 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 82 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.",
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "identity-and-classification",
                        "name": "Identity, naming and classification",
                        "description": "How an agent tells one methodology from another, and a methodology from things that resemble it.",
                        "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "naming-and-identifiers",
                                "name": "Names and identifiers",
                                "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases",
                                        "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names",
                                        "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "id": "stable-identifiers",
                                        "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys",
                                        "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stable-identifiers-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "classification-and-granularity",
                                "name": "Classification and granularity",
                                "description": "Where a methodology sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "kind-and-parents",
                                        "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds",
                                        "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "kind-and-parents-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "id": "distinguishing-features",
                                        "name": "Distinguishing features",
                                        "description": "What separates a methodology from the things most often confused with it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "state-and-lifecycle",
                        "name": "State and lifecycle",
                        "description": "The states a methodology passes through and the events that move it between them.",
                        "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "lifecycle-stages",
                                "name": "Lifecycle stages",
                                "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "stages-and-transitions",
                                        "name": "Stages and transitions",
                                        "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a methodology between them.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "observations-and-status",
                                "name": "Observations and current status",
                                "description": "What is observed about a methodology, how often and by whom.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "observation-record",
                                        "name": "Observation record",
                                        "description": "How an observation of a methodology is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "observation-record-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "process-and-outcome",
                        "name": "Process, inputs and outcome",
                        "description": "How a methodology proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.",
                        "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "steps-and-sequence",
                                "name": "Steps and sequence",
                                "description": "The steps of a methodology, their order and what may run in parallel.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "steps-and-preconditions",
                                        "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion",
                                        "description": "What has to be true before each step of a methodology and what marks it done.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "inputs-and-results",
                                "name": "Inputs, resources and results",
                                "description": "What a methodology consumes and what it produces.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "inputs-and-outputs",
                                        "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects",
                                        "description": "The resources a methodology takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "definitions-in-contest",
                        "name": "Definitions and who holds them",
                        "description": "What methodology is taken to mean, and by whom.",
                        "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "competing-definitions",
                                "name": "Competing definitions",
                                "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "definition-map",
                                        "name": "Definitions and their holders",
                                        "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "definition-map-q01",
                                                "text": "Which definitions of methodology are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "definition-map-q02",
                                                "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "operationalisation",
                                "name": "Operationalisation",
                                "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "operational-record",
                                        "name": "Measures and proxies",
                                        "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "operational-record-q01",
                                                "text": "How is methodology operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?",
                                                "kind": "measurement"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "operational-record-q02",
                                                "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "instances-and-use",
                        "name": "Instances, use and consequence",
                        "description": "What counts as an instance of methodology and what follows from calling something that.",
                        "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "instances",
                                "name": "What counts as an instance",
                                "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "instance-tests",
                                        "name": "Tests for an instance",
                                        "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "instance-tests-q01",
                                                "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of methodology?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "instance-tests-q02",
                                                "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "consequence",
                                "name": "Consequence of application",
                                "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "consequence-record",
                                        "name": "What the label licenses",
                                        "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "consequence-record-q01",
                                                "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as methodology?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "consequence-record-q02",
                                                "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "provenance-and-evidence",
                        "name": "Provenance, evidence and time",
                        "description": "Where every claim about a methodology came from and when it held.",
                        "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "source-and-authority",
                                "name": "Source and authority",
                                "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "claim-provenance",
                                        "name": "Claim provenance and confidence",
                                        "description": "The authority behind each claim about a methodology and how confident it is.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "time-and-versions",
                                "name": "Time, versions and supersession",
                                "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "validity-and-supersession",
                                        "name": "Validity period and supersession",
                                        "description": "How an old claim about a methodology is retired without being erased.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a methodology, and in what units or vocabulary?",
                                                "kind": "definition",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "identifiers",
                                                    "types and classes",
                                                    "values with units",
                                                    "explicit unknowns"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02",
                                                "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a methodology, by which method, and when was it true?",
                                                "kind": "provenance",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "authority",
                                                    "method",
                                                    "evidence",
                                                    "event time",
                                                    "knowledge time"
                                                ]
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03",
                                                "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a methodology is known, and what must it refuse?",
                                                "kind": "action",
                                                "answer_data": [
                                                    "permitted actions",
                                                    "preconditions",
                                                    "refusals",
                                                    "escalation"
                                                ]
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "statistics": {
                "bundles": 6,
                "layers": 12,
                "findings": 14,
                "questions": 38
            }
        }
    }
}