{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "workId": "BRC-2026-W001",
  "rootQuestion": "What clinically useful information is lost when localized, simultaneous, and fluctuating thermal sensations are reduced to one cold–heat score or one resting temperature measurement?",
  "questions": [
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q1", "localId": "Q1", "question": "Are patient terms such as chilled, cold, burning, and hot stable sensory qualities or person-specific metaphors?", "status": "ready-for-protocol", "priority": "P0", "recommendedForm": "qualitative methods paper and cognitive-interview protocol", "dependsOn": [], "nextEvidence": "cognitive interviews and test–retest descriptor choice", "failureCondition": "low comprehension and within-person stability", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q2", "localId": "Q2", "question": "Does a symptom body map recur within a person beyond chance?", "status": "blocked-by-instrument", "priority": "P0", "recommendedForm": "prospective observational protocol", "dependsOn": ["BRC-2026-W001-Q1"], "nextEvidence": "14-day event-based spatial overlap", "failureCondition": "low map overlap after accounting for event type", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q3", "localId": "Q3", "question": "Does sensation align with absolute temperature, asymmetry, rate of change, or rewarming?", "status": "blocked-by-instrument", "priority": "P1", "recommendedForm": "measurement study", "dependsOn": ["BRC-2026-W001-Q1", "BRC-2026-W001-Q2"], "nextEvidence": "time-synchronized subjective and sensor data", "failureCondition": "no repeatable within-person relation", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q4", "localId": "Q4", "question": "Are hot-back and cold-hand events coupled, sequential, or independent?", "status": "blocked-by-observation-data", "priority": "P1", "recommendedForm": "event-series analysis", "dependsOn": ["BRC-2026-W001-Q2", "BRC-2026-W001-Q3"], "nextEvidence": "multilevel event-time analysis", "failureCondition": "patterns indistinguishable from independent fluctuation", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q5", "localId": "Q5", "question": "Does the local field add information beyond diagnosis, routine history, and global cold–heat score?", "status": "later-validation", "priority": "P2", "recommendedForm": "prospective validation study", "dependsOn": ["BRC-2026-W001-Q1", "BRC-2026-W001-Q2", "BRC-2026-W001-Q3"], "nextEvidence": "prespecified baseline-versus-augmented external validation", "failureCondition": "no improvement in calibration, decision utility, or patient-important outcomes", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q6", "localId": "Q6", "question": "Which signs require an alternate diagnostic and safety pathway?", "status": "ready-for-evidence-map", "priority": "P0", "recommendedForm": "safety evidence map and clinical protocol", "dependsOn": [], "nextEvidence": "prospective adjudication of red flags and reassessment", "failureCondition": "unsafe delay or false reassurance", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q7", "localId": "Q7", "question": "Do region, depth, and time distinctions derived from classical texts improve observation?", "status": "blocked-by-source-study", "priority": "P1", "recommendedForm": "source study followed by randomized item-order measurement study", "dependsOn": [], "nextEvidence": "edition and lineage audit, then randomized item-order cognitive testing and inter-rater reliability", "failureCondition": "no textual stability or no gain over contemporary-language items", "derivedOutputs": [] },
    { "id": "BRC-2026-W001-Q8", "localId": "Q8", "question": "Do treatment-related changes in sensation, temperature, and function dissociate?", "status": "later-clinical-study", "priority": "P2", "recommendedForm": "time-stamped N-of-1 series before cohort study", "dependsOn": ["BRC-2026-W001-Q1", "BRC-2026-W001-Q2", "BRC-2026-W001-Q3"], "nextEvidence": "later time-stamped N-of-1 or cohort study", "failureCondition": "effects not separable from natural history, co-intervention, expectation, or measurement error", "derivedOutputs": [] }
  ],
  "competingModels": [
    { "id": "M1", "name": "vascular-dynamic", "prediction": "provocation-linked colour, perfusion, or rewarming abnormality aligns with events" },
    { "id": "M2", "name": "sensory-gain-or-loss", "prediction": "thermal detection or pain profiles dissociate from resting skin temperature" },
    { "id": "M3", "name": "event-sampling", "prediction": "discordance shrinks when subjective and objective event windows are aligned" },
    { "id": "M4", "name": "spatial-integration", "prediction": "regional configuration and adjacency alter perceived quality beyond local temperature" },
    { "id": "M5", "name": "global-trait", "prediction": "a global cold–heat score explains local patterns; the field adds no value" },
    { "id": "M6", "name": "linguistic-construction", "prediction": "descriptor differences exceed physiological differences and shift with interview framing" }
  ]
}