STR.7:4.2 - Compare the attainable inquiry with cheaper continuations

Check existing records, calculations and qualified direct results first. Compare the proposed experiment with using that basis, asking a narrower question, making a reversible bounded choice, deferring or stopping. FPF C.11 governs this choice; C.11.DUA helps expose the work hidden in a demand for more evidence.

Include the full increment to the present configuration: design, execution, participation, checking, interpretation, support, recovery, delay and displaced work where material. Keep costs imposed on customers or other participants visible even when they fall outside the sponsor’s budget.

Use qualitative comparison when it is enough. A numerical value-of-information model needs defensible inputs; uncertain probabilities need not be invented to obtain a decision. If a plausible burden or benefit difference reverses the recommendation, examine that difference before commissioning the inquiry.

A binding evidence or protection condition remains in force. Its merits may warrant reconsideration by the responsible authority, but an attractive experiment does not remove it.