Method / Note 5
Source-Bounded Answers: What Ask the Record Can and Cannot Do
The answer contract for a research interface that remains inside a disclosed source collection and returns the user to the evidence.
At a glance
- Every demonstration or matter room has a visible source manifest.
- The answer is limited to the selected collection, not general model knowledge or an undisclosed internet search.
- Each material answer identifies the supporting document and page.
- Conflict, silence, and inability to determine are valid answer states.
- The interface supports research; it does not provide legal advice or determine liability.
What source-bounded means
A general-purpose chatbot can draw on broad training data, current web content, prior conversation, or probabilistic completion. Ask the Record is designed differently. The user selects a defined source collection. The system retrieves and synthesizes from that collection and identifies the pages on which the answer rests.
The collection boundary is not merely a technical setting. It is part of the evidentiary representation made to the user. A response should never imply that it considered documents not listed in the manifest, and it should never fill a gap with outside knowledge unless the product explicitly changes modes and discloses that change.
A bounded answer may be narrower than a general answer. Its value is that the boundary is visible and the evidence can be checked.
The two public demonstration collections
At launch, RecordStrata.ai offers two independent source-bounded demonstration collections: Nevada Gold Mines and Bear Run. A question asked in one collection must not retrieve from the other.
| Demonstration | Core research themes |
|---|---|
| Nevada Gold Mines – Cortez District-Underground, February 14, 2022 | Management decision not to follow a berm-and-signage procedure; daily management travel through the area; workplace examinations; longstanding backup-camera condition; three 104(d)(1) actions; an internal conflict in the stated duration of the missing berm. |
| Bear Run Mine – April 20, 2023 | Unblocked disassembly; a telehandler removed eleven minutes before the plate fell; final bolts removed without the crew chief’s knowledge; task training and handbook failures; parallel operator and contractor citations; source silence concerning a telehandler manufacturer or model. |
The exact document inventory for each demonstration must be displayed in its source manifest. If the collection later includes the underlying investigation report, the published Deep-Read, structured accident data, violation records, or penalty records, the addition must be versioned and visible to the user.
What Ask the Record can do
Answer factual questions supported by the selected documents.
Summarize an incident chronology and identify the pages supporting the sequence.
Locate and quote short passages from the source.
Distinguish an agency finding from an interview account or RecordStrata synthesis.
List the enforcement actions printed in the collection and identify missing fields that require another dataset.
Surface contradictions within or between included sources.
State when investigators could not determine an issue.
State when the collection does not identify a fact, party, manufacturer, model, motive, or outcome.
Compare supported passages within the selected collection.
Return the user to the original page for verification.
The answer contract
- Identify the collection
The interface displays the selected matter and the documents included in that collection.
- Answer the question directly
The first sentence responds to the question rather than reciting a generic disclaimer.
- Classify the evidence
The answer signals whether the proposition is a source fact, agency finding, interview account, synthesis, conflict, silence, or unresolved issue.
- Cite the support
Each material proposition identifies the supporting document and page: the printed page number, with the PDF page in brackets. Multiple-source answers cite each source used.
- State the limit
If the collection is incomplete, silent, conflicting, or inconclusive, the answer says so explicitly.
- Offer verification
The user can open the cited page and inspect the original context.
- Remain inside scope
The answer does not import outside facts or legal conclusions unless a separate, disclosed research mode is requested and available.
Valid answer states
| State | What it means | Illustrative response |
|---|---|---|
| Supported | The collection directly supports the answer. | "MSHA issued three 104(d)(1) actions to the operator." |
| Supported with qualification | The core answer is supported, but a limitation travels with it. | "The seat belt was functional and not in use; the report gives no contribution verdict." |
| Conflicting record | Included passages materially disagree. | "The report states one and a half months in one section and approximately two months in the enforcement language." |
| Could not determine | The agency considered the issue and did not reach a conclusion. | "Investigators could not determine whether wind contributed." |
| Not stated | The collection does not identify the requested fact. | "The Bear Run report does not identify the telehandler manufacturer or model." |
| Outside collection | The question requires a document or dataset not included. | "The collection does not include civil pleadings, settlements, or appellate history." |
| Requires legal analysis | The sources may inform the issue but do not answer the legal question. | "The record can identify the cited duties and findings; it cannot determine civil liability." |
What Ask the Record cannot do
| Limitation | Required behavior |
|---|---|
| Determine liability, negligence, damages, admissibility, or the governing legal outcome | Identify the source facts and agency findings that may be relevant, then state that legal analysis is outside the answer. |
| Search undisclosed sources | Remain within the manifest or clearly disclose a separately requested research mode. |
| Supply missing facts from model memory or probability | Say that the collection does not state the fact. |
| Resolve a source conflict without authority | Present both passages and identify the conflict. |
| Treat absence as exoneration | Distinguish "not stated" from "found not contributing" or "found compliant." |
| Transform an interview statement into an agency finding | Preserve the speaker and indicate whether the agency later adopted a conclusion. |
| Guarantee that an agency action remains current | State the date and scope of the collection and warn when later proceedings are not included. |
| Accept confidential client material through the public demo | Limit the public demo to selected public records; use a separate private matter-room process for client material. |
| Replace the original source | Provide the citation and page-opening path so the user can verify the answer. |
Demonstration questions and bounded responses
Nevada Gold Mines
Bear Run
Citations and the source viewer
A response is not complete until the user can inspect the source. Each citation should identify the document, the printed page and the PDF page, and should open the page in context. Where the source page contains a table, photograph, or diagram, the viewer should display the original visual rather than only an extracted text snippet.
The interface should also disclose the source edition and, where practical, the file hash or version identifier used by the collection. If the collection changes, previously saved answers should remain associated with the version from which they were generated.
Questions outside the record
A disciplined interface does not fail when it declines to answer an unsupported question. It succeeds by showing the boundary. Examples include civil settlements, insurance coverage, private maintenance communications, later appellate proceedings, or current ownership where those materials are not in the selected collection.
Verification, disclaimers, and user responsibility
Ask the Record is a research interface. Users should verify answers against the cited pages. The interface does not provide legal advice, form an attorney-client relationship, or represent that the selected collection contains every relevant document. Agency findings, allegations, testimony, and RecordStrata synthesis should remain distinct.
The site should state the date through which the collection was assembled and should warn where later decisions, modifications, appeals, or records may exist. A user should never infer current procedural status from an older source-bounded collection without checking the relevant later record.
Public demo privacy and security
The public demo uses selected public records only.
The question box should warn users not to submit privileged, confidential, or personally sensitive information.
Questions may be logged for security, quality, and cost control only as disclosed in the privacy notice.
The public demo should not create a client workspace or imply matter confidentiality.
Private matter rooms require separate authentication, source manifests, access controls, retention rules, and engagement terms.
The objective
Ask the Record is not intended to sound omniscient. It is intended to be auditable. Its strongest answers identify the relevant facts and findings with precision. Its strongest limitations identify the exact point at which the selected record stops.
A trustworthy research assistant knows not only how to answer, but when the record does not permit an answer.
Source notes
The examples in this Method Note are drawn from the following records. Page references are to the cited as-published or Deep-Read edition.
1. "A Berm That Management Chose Not to Build," MSHA Fatality Deep-Read Series No. 1, Nevada Gold Mines, LLC, dated September 7, 2026, especially pp. 2-4.
2. "Eleven Minutes: A Coordination Failure, Cited Twice," MSHA Fatality Deep-Read Series No. 2, Peabody Bear Run Mining LLC, dated September 7, 2026, especially pp. 1-5.