RDIV / ANSWER E-006 · EVIDENCE
What Makes an Investigation Reproducible?
A reproducible investigation preserves enough evidence, acquisition history, transformations, decisions, contradictions, and claim relationships to reconstruct its findings.
Fix the object first.
Reproducibility in investigative work means preserving enough of the procedure and record that a reviewer can repeat material steps, identify the same source objects, understand transformations, and test the mapping from evidence to claims and findings.
The visible label is not the whole system.
Without procedural memory, an investigation can produce persuasive prose that cannot be audited. Reproducibility creates a durable distinction between what was found, how it was found, and what was inferred.
Trace the burden.
- NIST and Berkeley guidance emphasize preservation, documented methods, integrity, and professional handling.
- A reproducible process can still contain bad assumptions or incomplete evidence; reproducibility exposes those weaknesses rather than erasing them.
- Perfect reproduction may be impossible when online sources disappear, platforms change, or lawful access differs.
- Investigators should preserve enough state to make those limitations explicit.
Where the work adds something.
R/IV’s target is forensic provenance for reasoning: a reviewer should be able to move from finding to claim to source and reconstruct the investigation state, while failed acquisition remains distinct from evidence of absence.