Table 7 The ‘attributes’ of a knowledge crystal
From: From insight network to open policy practice: practical experiences
Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
Name | An identifier for the knowledge crystal; each page has a permanent, unique name and identifier or URL |
Question | A research question that is to be answered; it defines the scope of the knowledge crystal Assessments have specific sub-attributes for questions (see section Settings of assessments) |
Answer | An understandable and useful answer to the question; it is the current best synthesis of all available data; typically, it has a descriptive easy-to-read summary and a detailed quantitative ‘result’ published as open data; an answer may contain several competing hypotheses, if they all hold against scientific critique; in this way, it may include an accurate description of the uncertainty of the answer, often in a probabilistic way |
Rationale | Any information that is necessary to convince a critical rational reader that the answer is credible and usable; it presents to a reader the information required to derive the answer and explains how it is formed; it may have different sub-attributes depending on the page type, some examples are listed below  • Data tell about direct observations (or expert judgements) about the topic.  • Dependencies tell what is known about how upstream knowledge crystals (i.e. causal parents) affect the answer; dependencies may describe functional or probabilistic relationships; in an insight network, dependencies are described as arrows pointing toward the knowledge crystal  • Calculations are an operationalisation of how to calculate or derive the answer; it uses algebra, computer code, or other explicit methods if possible  • Discussions are structured or unstructured discussions about the details of the substance, or about the production of substantive information; on a wiki, discussions are typically located on the talk page of the substance page |
Other | In addition to attributes, it is practical to have clarifying subheadings on a knowledge crystal page; these include self-explanatory subheadings such as See also, Keywords, References, Related files |