/boundary-condition-specification

name: boundary-condition-specification
description: 'SOP: Specify the boundary conditions under which a hypothesis holds'
version: 1.0.0
category: hypothesis-formation
type: sop
campaign: hypothesis-formulation
input: Hypothesis draft (with statement + variables + mechanism)
output: Boundary condition list (temporal/spatial/population/conditional/exclusions)
dependencies:
  skills:
  - subagent-spawning

Boundary Condition Specification

Systematically identify the preconditions required for a hypothesis to hold, preventing overgeneralization.

HARD-GATE

<HARD-GATE> Preconditions (all must hold before starting): 1. At least 1 hypothesis draft is available (with statement and mechanism) 2. The hypothesis involves identifiable entities, time, or context

Not satisfied → stop and return error: hypothesis draft incomplete, cannot determine boundary conditions. </HARD-GATE>

Pipeline

1. Precondition check: verify completeness of the hypothesis draft 2. Temporal boundary: in what time period/historical era does the hypothesis hold? Is there a time sensitivity? 3. Spatial boundary: within what geographic/cultural/organizational scope does the hypothesis hold? 4. Population boundary: to what kind of subjects does the hypothesis apply (populations, species, system types)? 5. Conditional boundary: what preconditions are required for the hypothesis to hold (technical, institutional, environmental)? 6. Exclusion conditions: explicitly list the situations where the hypothesis does not apply 7. Output structured boundary condition list

Output Format

{
  "hypothesis_id": "H1 (or hypothesis statement snippet)",
  "boundary_conditions": {
    "temporal": "Time period or duration constraints",
    "spatial": "Geographic, cultural, or organizational scope",
    "population": "Subject type, sample characteristics",
    "conditional": ["Prerequisite condition 1", "Prerequisite condition 2"],
    "exclusions": ["Situation where hypothesis does NOT apply"]
  },
  "generalizability": "narrow | moderate | broad",
  "notes": "Any additional caveats"
}

Each hypothesis draft yields 1 boundary condition object. </output>