FieldP-01 · Before anything is collected
Scoping a Case
Turn an impulse into an investigable question with a boundary and a stop condition.
Step 1
Write the Question
One sentence, answerable, falsifiable. “Is this company hiding its ownership?” is a question. “Look into this company” is not.
Step 2
Name the Decision
What will be done differently depending on the answer. If nothing changes either way, stop here and save the time.
Step 3
List the Answering Evidence
Before collecting, write what evidence would settle the question in each direction. This list is the collection plan.
Step 4
Set the Boundary
Time period, jurisdictions, entities, platforms. Anything outside is a separate case, not an extension of this one.
Step 5
Set the Stop Condition
A date, a budget of hours, or a finding threshold. Write what you will report if you reach it with nothing.
Step 6
Log the Conflict Check
Any interest you have in the outcome goes in the file at the start, where a reader can weigh it.
How It Fails
Cases that expand until the investigator is exhausted, and cases whose conclusion was chosen at the outset because the question was never written down.