STR.3:4.3 - Give unlike unresolved matters their own answer
Choose a representation and response that fit the issue. The following distinctions are useful prompts, not a closed taxonomy:
| What remains unresolved | A useful next answer | What that answer can change |
|---|---|---|
| A consequence such as demand or delivery cost | A qualified estimate, supported bound or conditional claim | Which directions or commitment sizes remain attractive |
| Competing explanations or future conditions | The assumptions on which their implications differ | Which models, scenarios or option families to retain |
| Whose benefit or loss should govern the choice | An attributed value judgement and the responsible decision | The comparison criterion, not the observed facts |
| A required right or permission | The qualified determination or authorization for the proposed use | Eligibility of dependent action |
| A missing contribution or resource | A feasible way to obtain it, a narrower option or the stated gap | What can actually be undertaken |
An uncertain claim about a right and the absence of the required right are different conditions. Request a determination when the former prevents choice; do not treat the latter as a probability to offset with expected benefit. Likewise, an unknown resource requirement differs from a known requirement exceeding what is available.
PSD.10, Represent Decision-Relevant Uncertainty and Evidence Limits, supplies the bounded uncertainty account when a relied-on estimate, model or source limit needs further work. Use its result without converting supported ranges into probability distributions or scenario counts into likelihoods.