01 · Method
Method and desk discipline
Method comes before conclusion. The burden of evidence comes before method. Every claim must carry its own weight.
Labeling system
In Open War Studies, claims are not presented on a single level. Every statement is clearly marked according to its evidentiary status.
FACTSTRONG INFERENCEHYPOTHESISSPECULATIONUNVERIFIED
- FACT
- A statement directly supported by a document, date, event, or source.
- STRONG INFERENCE
- A conclusion toward which multiple data points converge, but which is not itself a direct documentary statement.
- HYPOTHESIS
- An explanatory model constructed for testing.
- SPECULATION
- An interesting intellectual possibility that does not yet carry the burden of evidence.
- UNVERIFIED
- It may be recorded as a trace; it cannot be used as a judgment.
Red-Team principle
A claim is serious to the extent that it can withstand its strongest counter-argument. The weak link is not hidden; it is made visible inside the dossier.
Source hierarchy
A primary source, an institutional document, an academic study, a contemporary news report, testimony, and analytical inference are not shown with the same visual weight.
Revision discipline
Claims that are falsified, weakened, or quarantined are not deleted; they are archived with their epistemic status changed.