C2 · Model: the loop

Build an explanation and try to break it

C2 moves from categories to a model: an explanation of how organizing happens, under which conditions, and through which relationships. A model must do more than put the categories into a diagram.

Where this stage starts

C1 has supplied descriptive categories, broader themes and their underlying evidence. The aggregator can return to community records whenever an interpretation needs checking. Literature about how to conduct the analysis is available, but comparison with substantive theories comes in C3.

What the aggregator does

The aggregator works on three connected products. A data structure shows how participant evidence supports successively broader ideas. A concept account identifies what the analysis adds or cannot yet explain. The model connects the ideas through conditions, actions and consequences.

An arrow in the model therefore needs a claim: when one thing happens, another follows, because of a stated process. Two themes appearing together are not enough to establish that process. A feedback loop needs evidence of a cycle unfolding in time. Relationships that remain conjectures must be distinguished from those grounded in the record.

The aggregator writes the model as a whole story and reads it against named communities, including cases that challenge it. Can the story explain what those participants did? What does it leave out? A miss can require a narrower claim, a different relationship, a new distinction or an explicit limit. Changes are recorded as they occur, with the evidence that caused them.

The criteria for preferring a later model are declared before these rounds. A fresh critical reader also examines the developing account. The aggregator responds to that criticism and continues the prescribed checks rather than treating a polished story as a sufficient stopping point.

What the next stage receives

C3 receives a model built through comparisons with cases, its earlier versions, and a record of unresolved material. It can compare the explanation with published theories without losing sight of how the model arose from this collection.