CHK.4:4.1 - Bind the question to this subject and occasion

Identify what is being checked, which description or criterion applies, and the relevant time or condition. Resolve ambiguity before applying a test. A file name can refer to a different edition; “the cards” can refer to another box.

Recover prior answers or competent results that might already settle the question. ADM.7 supplies useful claim-checking distinctions from administrative practice; apply the competent examination for the present domain. ADM.13 supplies record-use distinctions when the answer is retained for later reliance. Decide whether the subject, criterion, observation and conditions supporting those results still apply. Current reliance can survive a new occasion without a new observation when nothing relevant has changed and the grounds are sufficient.

After an interruption, recover the last completed check and any unfinished operation, including the relevant content already obtained. A marker at card seven helps only if the next person knows which cards were actually compared, with which description, and what remains unresolved. Reconsider any changed subject or basis before resuming. Retain only the context needed for that continuation; a position marker is neither a completed answer nor proof that earlier grounds still apply.

Use a position cue alone when the performer can already recover the question, basis and unfinished work unambiguously. Otherwise retain the missing content alongside it. Compare the effort of recovering adequate prior grounds with obtaining a fresh observation. Observe again when the earlier basis no longer applies, or when recovering it would cost more than obtaining adequate current grounds. Do not repeat an observation merely to confirm a result already settled for this use.

A changed description can settle a new comparison immediately. It does not automatically make all prior facts unknown. A changed subject can instead remove the basis for a current answer while leaving the historical answer intact.

Keep evidence of effort and evidence of the intended result separate. A packer’s report of two hours spent preparing cards does not settle their count or wording; inspect or reuse grounds for those actual conditions. The result described in a report is also distinct from the report’s own completion.