RMP.5:2 - Problem

An analysis output can acquire more meaning than the inquiry supports. An association becomes a cause, repeated readings become independent cases, a theme becomes a prevalence estimate, a surviving document becomes proof that nothing preceded it, or a computed result becomes evidence that a model is adequate for a new use.

Criticism can also become an indiscriminate demand for more work. Every possible limitation is turned into a mandatory analysis; an adequate result must be recomputed; a missing comparison is concealed by a longer account. Neither an exhaustive checklist nor a confident conclusion repairs the material-to-claim relation.

The practitioner needs to preserve that relation while allowing legitimate exploratory, interpretive and source-critical work. The result must expose consequential analytical choices and contrary material without pretending that every Method uses the same assurance convention.