Path Analysis Assessment Guide

Appendix D: step-by-step methodology

Anyone who wants to apply the A-A-P triad to a concrete system needs a procedure that stays traceable and can be compared across several assessors. The assessment guide provides that procedure in six steps. It is part of the current master manuscript (V1.85, Appendix D) and serves three purposes: as instructions for independent path analyses, as a reference for the empirical trial in preparation, and as a standardization proposal for future path research.

Steps

System delineation

What is the path? Spatial, temporal, and functional boundaries are pragmatic, not ontologically fixed. Document the rationale.

Substrate type

Biological, technical, hybrid, social. Determines selection of anchor examples from Ch. 5 and calibrates expectations.

Ordinal A-A-P assessment

The three dimensions are assessed ordinally: low, medium, high. No numerical scores, no measurement in the strict sense — the assessment remains a reasoned placement.

Internal differentiations

Within the dimensions: load-bearing or exploitative connectivity (A⁺ / A⁻); rigid or transductive persistence (P(r) / P(t)); nominal or structural autonomy.

Assess dynamics

Stable, eroding, co-constitutively growing? Which dimension goes first?

Diagnosis and consequence

Which interventions strengthen or weaken which dimension? Are infrastructure paths affected? Reversible?

Full version with anchor examples from the 14 case studies: in the download section.

[Go to download section](undefined)

Boundary: Path Impact Assessment (PIA)

The assessment guide profiles a path in its current state. PIA asks what a planned intervention does to paths. Both belong together: first profile, then impact assessment.

[Open PIA](undefined)