PSD.13:4.3 - Select the warranted recommendation disposition
Ask what the recipient can responsibly consider now, given the question, alternatives, protected conditions, comparison and consequence of delay. Explain the inference from the relied-on premises to the disposition. The six forms below are result branches, not stages to complete.
| Disposition | Positive basis and useful return | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Retained or ranked set | Several directions remain live. Return the warranted order, partial order or trade-offs and the unresolved distinction that could narrow it. | A retained set is not consensus; an order valid under one scheme is not a universal ranking. |
| Supported direction | Qualified premises and a declared decision-support rule justify preferring one direction for this use. State the advantage and the conditions under which it holds. | Other candidates need an explicit disposition; protected conditions cannot disappear into a compensating score. |
| Bounded information-gaining probe | A specified uncertainty could change the advice, and a qualified probe is feasible and proportionate to the delay, burden and risk it introduces. Name the question, bounded exposure, useful evidence and stop. | Thin evidence alone does not justify a probe. The probe’s authorization, WorkPlan and execution remain separate. |
| Smallest-result request or handoff | A named practice can supply a missing comparison, feasibility, interpretation, or other result whose obtainable contribution warrants the full formulation, qualification, delivery, performance, interpretation, delay, and displaced work for this receiving question. Use A.15.9 and C.11.DUA for that selection. | Request the bounded premise; the supplier keeps its Method and does not take over the recommendation or choice. A missing premise alone can remain a limitation. |
| Blocker | A missing, stale, incompatible, inadmissible or unauthorized premise prevents the requested responsible recommendation. Name the premise, affected use and what would resolve or reroute it. | State any still-usable partial result; do not convert uncertainty into either a confident negative or a positive recommendation. |
| Abstention | The recommendation premise itself fails, or the requested kind of advice cannot responsibly be supplied within the engagement. State the failed premise and the correct receiving account where one exists. | An abstention is not an adverse factual finding about the subject and is not abandonment of any obtaining professional duty. |
A mixed answer can be useful if its scopes are unmistakable: retain two directions and block a stronger ranking, with a comparison request only when selected for its attainable value. Do not present these as contradictory overall statuses.
The strength of each claim stays inside the narrowest material limit of the premises on which that claim depends. If one input supports only a particular AI configuration, the recommendation cannot silently extend it to another. If an unused source expires, it does not invalidate unrelated claims merely by appearing in the same bibliography.
When a total order is unwarranted, prefer an explicit partial answer to invented weights or probabilities. When the declared scheme does support one direction, do not conceal that conclusion behind an uninformative list. Explain why a serious remaining alternative loses for this use, and what would reverse that judgement.