4.2 Identification of Problem

The discomfort's conversion into a researchable matter: the topic's location (the field: criminal procedure; the institution: the Debt Recovery Tribunal; the rule: the guarantee's autonomy), the researchable vs non-researchable test (a researchable problem: specific, evidence- answerable, within the researcher's means; not: the vague sermon — "the law should be better" — nor the unanswerable — "is the death penalty just?" without the framing that makes it answerable). The screening questions: what exactly is unknown? is data accessible? is it within time-and-resources? is it original (the literature's check) or usefully replicable? The researcher's self-audit: interest (the thesis-marriage's length), competence (the method's skills — can you run the regression, or is the doctrinal design the honest choice?), and access (the courts' permissions, the prisons' gates).