RMP.3:4.2 - Connect the question to particular material and actions
Specify the choices on which that connection depends. The following questions organize one operational specification; they are not a compulsory form to reproduce for every inquiry.
| Choice to settle | What makes the specification usable |
|---|---|
| Phenomenon, construct or meaning | State what the inquiry is trying to distinguish and why the proposed observation, source or encounter bears on it. A familiar variable name or cited scale does not establish that relation in the present use. |
| Units, cases and selection | Identify what is selected, exposed or changed, what is observed, and what the eventual answer is about. State inclusion and selection reasons and the source of the attainable sample or corpus. Repeated readings of one specimen are not additional independent specimens. |
| Comparison or interpretive relation | Explain what will be compared, challenged or interpreted, which rival it can expose, and what differences must be controlled, described or acknowledged. |
| Timing and context | Specify the periods, sequence, exposure or engagement conditions that make the material comparable or interpretable. Retain the conditions that could make a later observation a different case. |
| Measurement, source or engagement Method | Identify the qualified measurement procedure, source-critical technique, interview or field approach, computation or other supplied Method. Include the material version and conditions that affect its use. |
| Information and uncertainty | State why the attainable material is useful for the intended criticism, what its limits are, and which supplied domain or statistical judgement supports that expectation. |
| Execution and access | Say who or what supplies the necessary capability, material, facility, permission and access before the affected action. A proposed arrangement does not establish their availability. |
For quantitative inquiry, obtain the applicable sample-size or precision rationale, dependence model and measurement qualifications. RMP.3 connects those results to the research question; it does not supply a universal sample count, effect size, psychometric cutoff or causal-identification formula. An instrument indication becomes a measurement result only through its appropriate measurement account, including uncertainty and applicable qualification. FPF C.16 provides the common measurement and characterization discipline.
For a historical inquiry, operational detail may concern source series, authenticity, dates, provenance uncertainty, transcription and the possibility of archival silence. For qualitative inquiry, it may concern theoretical orientation, researcher and participant positions, encounter conditions and the permitted development of interpretation. Asking what a source or encounter can support is more useful than forcing either inquiry into a trial-outcome table.
Use qualified domain procedures where they already answer these questions. Record the research connection and any changed application condition, not a weaker replacement manual.