---
name: critical-case-design
description: "Flyvbjerg critical case methodology: select most-likely and least-likely cases to maximize inferential power."
type: strategy
used-by: [adversarial-stress-testing]
---
# Critical Case Design
## Tactics
- boundary-probing
- counterexample-heuristics
## Method
1. Identify the claim's scope and conditions
2. Design most-likely case: conditions maximally favorable to claim
3. Design least-likely case: conditions maximally unfavorable
4. If claim fails in most-likely case: strong disconfirmation
5. If claim holds in least-likely case: strong confirmation
6. Report inferential power of each test
## Budget
| Size | Critical cases designed | Evaluation depth |
|---|---|---|
| S | 2 (one most-likely, one least-likely) | Surface |
| M | 4 (two each) | Moderate |
| L | 6 (three each) | Deep |
## Orchestration
1. Dispatch `parameter-space-mapping` to identify conditions
2. Dispatch `extreme-value-generation` for favorable/unfavorable extremes
3. Dispatch `breakpoint-detection` to test claim at critical cases
4. Dispatch `contradiction-detection` to evaluate outcomes
## Subagents
- parameter-space-mapping
- extreme-value-generation
- breakpoint-detection
- contradiction-detection