{"id":2012,"slug":"rule-r1-convert-judgment-to-observation","title":"R1 — Convert every judgment into an observation or counting task","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["survey-question-design","observable-proxies-for-judgment"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Every widget question must pass this test — could the owner answer it correctly by **looking at something or counting**, without making a quality judgment about themselves? If not, redesign it.\n\n**Why:** Pulls together the four strongest findings in this brief: (a) item-specific > agree/disagree on data quality ([[saris-2010-item-specific-beats-agree-disagree]]); (b) concrete-target moderation of the better-than-average effect ([[better-than-average-concrete-targets-moderation]]); (c) BARS-style behavioral anchoring outperforms abstract scales ([[bars-smith-kendall-1963]]); (d) competition-neglect literature — owners under-weight competitors when JUDGING but can COUNT them when directed.\n\n**How to apply:** For every candidate question, write the JUDGMENT form and the OBSERVATION form side-by-side. Always ship the observation form. The widget supplies the evaluation (the tier); the owner supplies the observation.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"better-than-average-concrete-targets-moderation","title":"The concrete-target moderation — the design lever against overplacement","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"saris-2010-item-specific-beats-agree-disagree","title":"Saris et al. 2010 — item-specific response options far outperform agree/disagree on data quality","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"bars-smith-kendall-1963","title":"BARS (Smith & Kendall 1963) — anchoring scale points to concrete observable behaviors","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-capture-layer-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget capture layer — what owners can vs cannot self-report (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"gigerenzer-juslin-frequency-framing-calibration","title":"Gigerenzer/Juslin 1991-1994 — frequency framing reduces overconfidence (with Griffin-Tversky 1992 critique)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"confidence-does-not-track-accuracy","title":"Confidence does not reliably track accuracy for subjective judgments","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:01.036Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:01.036Z"}