EYQA® Scrutiny — Stage II | The Narrative Defensibility Platform™
EYQA® · The Narrative Defensibility Platform™ Stage II — Scrutiny

Expose your narrative to realistic scrutiny

Structured scrutiny subjects the validated narrative to stakeholder-specific challenges, evidence requests, contradictions, and changing conditions. The output is a Narrative Defensibility Profile — not a pass/fail verdict.

I — Validation → II — Scrutiny → III — Governance
Validation recommended

Validation is recommended for a Profile; required for a Rating. Scrutiny runs on a validated narrative (Profile pathway) or alongside Validation (Rating pathway).

Go to Stage I: Validation →
What Scrutiny produces
A Defensibility Profile — one of four findings

Scrutiny runs the validated narrative through structured scenario challenges. Each challenge produces a documented finding: where the narrative holds, where it depends on conditions, and where evidence breaks.

Survives

The narrative holds. Claims supported, reasoning intact, no material exposure identified.

Conditional

Holds under stated conditions. Depends on assumptions that should be disclosed explicitly.

Vulnerable

Specific exposure identified. The profile names the failing claim and the evidence required.

Unresolved

Scenario could not be completed — evidence insufficient or contradictory. Profile states what must be resolved.

Scenario library
The same 27 scenarios as the free Stress-Test Hub

Scrutiny draws on the same scenario library as the free Stress-Test — 27 scenarios across business and professional contexts. What changes is the depth: scenarios run adversarially, with challenges and counterclaims, producing a documented Profile rather than a diagnostic signal.

Investor ScrutinyAnalyst questions, funding scrutiny, competing explanations.
Board ScrutinyGovernance challenge, risk and assumption testing.
PR / Crisis ScrutinyJournalist, regulator, stakeholder questions.
Sales ScrutinyBuyer objections, proof challenges.
Sustainability ScrutinyESG claims, evidence and contradictions.
Channel ScrutinyDistributor, reseller, partner scrutiny.
Live App ScrutinyUser evidence, reviews, ratings, public claims.

Not sure which scenario applies? Browse all 27 →

Optional output
Defensibility Rating

Narratives that complete a full scrutiny pathway may be eligible for a Defensibility Rating — Bronze, Silver, or Gold. A Rating is an outcome of Scrutiny, not a stage. It reflects the depth of evidence and the breadth of scenario testing completed.

Bronze Rating
Foundational Defensibility
Evidence baseline established, single-scenario scrutiny completed.
+
  • Validation completed with documented evidentiary baseline
  • At least one stakeholder scenario scrutinised
  • Core proof points across at least four of six dimensions
  • Defensibility Profile with no unresolved findings
Silver Rating
Sustained Defensibility
Multi-scenario scrutiny completed with sustained performance.
+
  • All Bronze criteria met
  • Scrutiny completed against at least three stakeholder scenarios
  • Documented evidence across all six dimensions
  • Defensibility Profile with no Vulnerable or Unresolved findings
Gold Rating
Externally Corroborated Defensibility
Comprehensive scrutiny with external corroboration and cross-context replication.
+
  • All Silver criteria met
  • Scrutiny across all major stakeholder scenarios
  • External corroboration of core claims
  • Evidence of cross-context replication
  • Defensibility Profile with all findings at Survives
Legal note. A Defensibility Rating is not a certification, accreditation, compliance mark, or regulatory approval. It reflects the outcome of an EYQA scrutiny process against published criteria and does not imply endorsement or guarantee of future outcomes. Rating criteria are published in full and subject to periodic review. Ratings may be revised, suspended, or withdrawn if underlying evidence changes materially.
Common questions
Before you apply
No. Validation asks what evidence exists. Scrutiny asks what happens when that evidence is challenged. Validation is a review of the narrative you submit; Scrutiny is an active testing of how the narrative behaves under stakeholder-specific challenges.
For a Defensibility Profile, no — Validation is recommended but not required. For a Defensibility Rating (Bronze, Silver, or Gold), yes — the rating criteria depend on the documented evidentiary baseline.
No. It is not a regulatory certification, compliance mark, or accreditation, and it does not imply endorsement or performance guarantee. Rating criteria and methodology are published in full and subject to periodic review.
A completed scrutiny pathway establishes eligibility for Stage III — Governance, where the narrative enters a framework that authorises controlled publication with evidentiary integrity preserved.
Initiate a scrutiny pathway

Submit your narrative for scrutiny scoping. The scenario set is defined based on your intended deployment context.

Return to Stage I: Validation →

Want facilitated practice before Scrutiny? See Simulation →

The sequence ← Stage I: Validation Stress-Tests → How it works →