Method & Evidence · Windrose Institute
Method & Evidence

How we know what we know, and admit what we don't.

We don't ask you to trust a black box. This page shows the empirical frames our synthetic minds are built on, how we measure the stability of every result, and the three reasons we report a direction instead of a decimal.

BACKTEST STATUS · EX-002 IN PROGRESS, FULL RESULTS PUBLISH HERE ON PASS. THE READOUTS BELOW ARE A SAMPLE RUN.
AXIS 01 · WHO

Who the minds are

Populations parameterised by documented cultural and psychographic frames.

→ CULTURAL MODEL · CALIBRATION
AXIS 02 · STABILITY

How stable the ranking is

We don't run once. We run the population many times and measure the spread.

→ RANKING STABILITY · CONFIDENCE
AXIS 03 · ROBUSTNESS

Whether it survives a changing world

Does the winner still win when the outside context shifts?

→ SCENARIO ROBUSTNESS

THREE INDEPENDENT AXES OF UNCERTAINTY · EACH ITS OWN LINE ON THE EVIDENCE LABEL

Axis 01 · Who the minds are

The population isn't generic. It's built on published frames.

When you pick an audience, its synthetic minds are parameterised with documented cultural dimensions, so the simulation applies known cross-cultural differences to your segment, rather than guessing. The model in use is printed on every result.

PDI68
IDV60
UAI93
MAS64
LTO38
IVR29
FIG. 1, Cultural instrument · Hofstede dimensions, audience = Poland. High uncertainty-avoidance (UAI 93) means "no card required" must be stated louder.

We start with Hofstede (national dimensions), add Schwartz basic values for within-country segments, and, where real survey data exists, the World Values Survey.

Honest limit, stated on the label: Hofstede describes nations in aggregate, not individuals. It parameterises direction, it never licenses a hard percentage. Only WVS-grade real data upgrades CALIBRATION: NONE to WVS WAVE 7.

Axis 02 · How stable the ranking is

We run the simulation a hundred times, not once.

A single run can get lucky. So we resample the population many times and watch where the ranking lands. If a variant wins in most runs, the direction is stable. If the runs disagree, we say so, as a category (HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW), never a false decimal.

RANKING STABILITY 78 / 100 CONFIDENCE HIGH
FIG. 2, Ensemble of 100 runs (faint) with the consensus distribution (bold). Variant A holds rank 1 in 78 of 100. Not a conversion rate, a measure of how firmly the compass points.

This is the ensemble method weather services use: many forecasts, read as a spread, not a single line. The fan is the point.

You get a new label row, RANKING STABILITY: 78/100, and a plain-language CONFIDENCE band. A tight fan means trust the order; a wide fan means test before you commit.

Axis 03 · Whether it survives a changing world

A winner that only wins in one future isn't a winner.

We re-run your ranking across boundary scenarios, a downturn, a steady baseline, a boom, and check whether the order holds or breaks. A message that ranks first in every scenario is robust. One that only wins in the good times is a warning, printed plainly.

RECESSION BASELINE BOOM #1 #2 #3 A B C
SCENARIO ROBUSTNESS VARIANT A · ROBUST (3/3)
FIG. 3, Rank across three macro scenarios. Variant A holds #1 in all three (solid). B and C swap places, fragile.

The heritage here is classic scenario planning (Shell / Global Business Network): you don't predict one future, you pressure-test a decision against several.

For a founder in front of a VC, "our winning message is robust across three macro scenarios" is a far stronger claim than a single number, and it's a claim we can actually defend.

The instrument's readout

The evidence label, in full.

Every result ships with this. It's modelled on a nutrition label: fixed fields, same order every time, so you learn to read it once. Colour marks the epistemic stage, red is simulation, green is real-data calibration.

Notice what the label refuses to contain: a conversion percentage. There is no field for it, because without your real outcomes we cannot honestly fill one.

What it does contain are things we can defend under scrutiny, the frame, the spread, the robustness, the backtest class, and the sample. The absence of a number is itself information.

Why direction, not decimals

Three reasons, and the deepest one isn't statistical.

01

Empirical

Peer-reviewed work shows language models do not reliably reproduce human psychology. Absolute predictions drift; the decimals look precise and aren't.

02

Methodological

Even excellent planning doesn't predict, it measures how stable a direction is across runs and scenarios. The ensemble and the scenario spread are that measurement, made visible.

03

Philosophical

Reality is a process, not a thing, it flows. Chasing one certain number about the future mistakes the nature of the future itself, which was never an object you could hit like a target. A tool that reports direction is aligned with how the world actually behaves, not merely cautious.

"You are a function of what the whole universe is doing, in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.", after Alan Watts

Powered by the Windrose Engine.

The same instrument, synthetic populations, ensembles, evidence labels, beneath every study we build. Message testing is the first of a series.

● MESSAGE & POSITIONING, live
○ Pricing sensitivity · ○ Onboarding drop-off · ○ Crisis & PR reaction · ○ Persona builder · ○ Stability report for boards
Methodology changelog · append-only

When the method changes, we show the change.

Nothing here is overwritten. A superseded decision stays visible with its successor beside it, the same discipline we hold ourselves to internally.

2026-07
Three-axis evidence label introduced

Added CULTURAL MODEL, RANKING STABILITY, CONFIDENCE and SCENARIO ROBUSTNESS rows. Supersedes the five-field label.

CURRENT
2026-06
Ensemble resampling (Monte Carlo) added

Rankings now reported over 100 resamples rather than a single run, producing the stability score.

ACTIVE
2026-05
Five-field evidence label

RUNG, CALIBRATION, SCOPE, BACKTEST, N SAMPLES.

SUPERSEDED