Fundamentals of Analysis

Fundamentals of Analysis

What is the essence of analysis?  It is categories.  It is like biological organization into animal and plant kingdoms.  Perhaps it can be vertebrates or invertebrates.  Under each category are subcategories that do not cross fit into both categories.  It is mutual exclusivity that defines analysis.  Break things into categorical pieces, and ensure that the pieces within a level are mutual exclusive categories.  This is the process of analysis. 

We Have a Fire

Let us take a concrete example and perform some analysis.  We have a fire.  A building burned down.  What is required for a fire?  Three things: (1) Oxygen, (2) Fuel, and (3) Sufficient Heat.  This is called an AND gate in logic, which means, all three factors must be present, or Fire does not exist.  Take away any one of these three, and there is no fire.  So, let us ask the question.  Was there sufficient oxygen?  Probably so, unless we were under laboratory conditions where someone removed oxygen, we can safely assume there was a 20% concentration in the air.  Was there fuel?  What can be fuel to a fire?  Wood, gasoline, cloth, dust, organic material, etc.  One must identify the fuel.  What else do we need?  We need a source of heat.  What could be a source of heat to ignite the Fuel?  Cigarette lighter, stove, matches, hot wire from a shorted electrical circuit, pilot light from a gas stove, flint material rubbed together to produce a spark if near gasoline.  Thus, to establish the cause of the fire, one must identify the three things necessary to make the fire, and clearly connect them to the physical manifestation of the three requirements.  What gave oxygen?  Air.  What gave fuel?  Gasoline.  What gave heat?  A hot stove.  Congratulations!  You have performed basic cause and effect, and have identified by analysis the cause of the fire.

Murder Scene

Let’s use an example with identifying a suspect for a crime.  There is a dead man on the floor of a hotel on the second floor.  The dead man is 230 pounds, muscular, and 29 years old.  His arm is broken, and his face is smashed in.  The door bolt is broken and the door handle on the bathroom door is broken off.

Who could have done this?  Let us look at the first thing: Skill.  Who would have the skills to do this?  Who can break off a door bolt?  A strong man - perhaps a muscular man.  Could it be a school girl?  No.  A teenage 11 year old boy?  No.  An 80 year old woman?  No.  A 70 year old man?  No.  To overcome and kill a man 230 pounds and muscular, what would he look like?  Probably muscular, very strong, not a skinny pimply faced teenager.  Probably a trained fighter, boxer, or martial artist.  

So, we have established categories above, and excluded a lot of options in the analysis.  Male, 20-35 years old, muscular, fighting skills, strong as hell, strong hands.  So, this eliminates a lot of people so that one can focus on the profile of the suspect.  You do not strip search a 100 year old woman in a nursing home to see if she was the suspect, even if she hated the dead man and said she wanted to kill him.  She just could not have done the job.  Maybe hired for the job, but not performed the job.  

Rapid Heart Pulse

What is the cause of a rapid heart pulse?  Adrenaline causes the heart to pump faster.  Why does the heart pump faster?  What does the heart do?  It mainly provides oxygen to all things in the body.  Thus, when the heart beats fast, something in the body is asking for more oxygen.  When you run fast, your muscles need more oxygen, and secrete chemicals and hormones to signal the need for oxygen, which signals an increase in adrenaline, which raises the heart rate.   Something is lacking oxygen, and demands action from the heart to provide the extra oxygen by pumping faster.  If you are resting in your bed and your heart is racing, what does this mean?  Something is asking for oxygen.  Perhaps your lungs are clogged from pneumonia and your body is not getting enough oxygen from a regular heart rate, and thus, the system demands faster pulse to make up for the deficiency.  Perhaps you are scared to death of something, and your body signals with chemicals and hormones to prepare for Fight or Flight, which raises the heart rate to prepare for very intense muscle movement for a Fight or Flight.  

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What is the takeaway?  Ask yourself “What are the necessary conditions for this to have happened?”  “What could have caused each one of these conditions?”  Write down all the conditions, and trace backward to a cause of the condition.  Make a picture of cause and effect.

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Freddy Martini