Ask how the sample became visible
List how you found the cases: a search result, an award collection, a company announcement or an archive category. Each route makes some stories easier to find than others. A set assembled from success-oriented sources cannot establish how often a strategy succeeds.
State the question the sample can answer. A collection of examples may help identify possible mechanisms, but it is not automatically a representative dataset for estimating probabilities or average returns.
Look for attempts that did not become celebrated stories
Search for withdrawals, closures, reversals, stalled projects and mixed outcomes using the same action or customer-problem terms. Keep comparable criteria; a failure in an unrelated setting adds little information merely because it is negative.
Absence from search results does not prove that no unsuccessful attempts exist. Record the limits of your search and the kinds of missing records you would need for a broader conclusion.
Separate a useful mechanism from a success guarantee
A successful case can show that an approach worked under particular conditions. It does not establish that the approach was sufficient, necessary or broadly repeatable. Examine accompanying advantages and alternative explanations.
For an illustrative founder study, repeated stories about a distribution tactic may overlook existing audiences or favorable timing. Write those conditions beside the tactic so they remain visible when adapting it.
Make the conclusion proportionate to the sample
Use bounded conclusions: the cases suggest a mechanism worth testing, reveal a risk or identify a condition. Avoid assigning a success rate unless the underlying sample and denominator actually support it.
Preserve the inclusion process and counterexamples in the research record. The practical goal is not a perfectly unbiased collection, which may be unavailable, but a decision that acknowledges what the evidence leaves out.
Use this worksheet for your decision
Copy this into your notes. Leave unknowns visible instead of filling gaps with guesses.
Research question: How cases were discovered: Selection criteria: Stories likely to be missing: Comparable unsuccessful attempts: Accompanying advantages: What the sample can establish: Claims it cannot support: Next evidence or test:Download the text worksheet ↓
Find evidence in the archives
Choose a supporting case and a counterexample with a different outcome. Read their sources and check whether their conditions match yours.
Cases to practice with (read and check the underlying sources):
Bring your question to the cases
Search a company or topic in the app, read the cases and ask follow-up questions to compare approaches.