C.28.CM:6 - Bias-Annotation

The scope is construction for a bounded causal question. Epistemic discipline separates a mechanism proposal from its evidence; pragmatic discipline stops at a useful conditional result; ontological discipline separates variables, their values, observations and the subject being changed.

Narrative closure favors the first fluent explanation. Diagram authority favors a tidy graph. Observed-variable bias omits causes that were not measured. Remedy these tendencies by constructing a material rival, explaining consequential omissions, and checking how observations and case selection were produced. Retaining every imaginable model can also prevent useful work; narrow the family by subject grounds and the receiving question.