---
title: "Method"
description: "one research method of the library: the question it settles, when it applies and when not, its inputs, the deciding number and its bar, the control, its steps, its validity threats with the answer to each, and what it leaves on the record"
section: concepts
address: /concepts/method
contract: 0476e35e6e275db5
---

# Method

one research method of the library: the question it settles, when it applies and when not, its inputs, the deciding number and its bar, the control, its steps, its validity threats with the answer to each, and what it leaves on the record

[figure: Method is a row at platform scope. The drawing shows its fields and the objects that they point at.]

| property | value |
|---|---|
| kind | row |
| scope | platform |
| key | its name and version |
| store | postgres |
| family | models |



## Fields


| field | type | required | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| `name` | `text` | yes | the field's name for the method |
| `question` | `text` | yes |  |
| `applies_when` | `text` | yes |  |
| `not_when` | `text` | yes |  |
| `inputs` | `[text]` | yes | owning types |
| `deciding_number` | `text` | yes | and its bar |
| `control` | `text` | yes |  |
| `steps` | `[text]` | yes | each a step of the named procedure |
| `threats` | `[json]` | yes | threat, answer |
| `leaves` | `[text]` | yes | with the basis of each |
| `state` | [Readiness](/concepts/readiness) | yes | not ready without a deciding number, a control or an answered threat |
| `version` | `count` | yes |  |



## Routes that use it
No route takes or returns Method directly. The record holds it, and the objects that point at it reach it.