{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/build-the-sequence-before-asking-for-the-cause",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0754",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Build the sequence before asking for the cause",
  "summary": "Why is easier to invent than what happened next.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "First reconstruct trigger, steps, handoffs, decisions and the first unexpected state. Only then ask what may explain the divergence. A sequence gives causal claims something to attach to and exposes missing intervals.",
  "limits": [
    "A timeline alone does not establish causality; it only constrains the stories that remain plausible."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-question-design-and-evidence-elicitation"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-8C87115E8FFA48A7"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "GOV.UK interview guidance recommends open, neutral questions, asking for real stories and examples, listening carefully, and using follow-ups when meaning is unclear.",
      "source_id": "RS-8C87115E8FFA48A7",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Neutral wording reduces one source of bias but does not make interview evidence objective or representative by itself.",
      "locator": "Do the interview"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "People jump directly from an outcome to a confident explanation and the intermediate events are unclear."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "A timeline alone does not establish causality; it only constrains the stories that remain plausible."
  ],
  "example": "Before asking why an upload failed, reconstruct which file, validation result, user action, background job and error appeared in order.",
  "check": "The timeline separates observed steps from later explanations and marks at least one unknown when evidence is missing.",
  "steps": [
    "The timeline separates observed steps from later explanations and marks at least one unknown when evidence is missing."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-8C87115E8FFA48A7",
      "title": "Using in-depth interviews",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-research/using-in-depth-interviews"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0754",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0755",
      "type": "use_before",
      "url": "/knowledge/ask-for-the-artifact-that-could-outvote-memory"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-F3F88D2D9DC3D150",
      "title": "Ask questions that produce usable evidence instead of polished generalities",
      "url": "/collections/ask-questions-that-produce-usable-evidence-instead-of-polished-generalities"
    }
  ]
}