Civilizational Viability Research Design: From Units of Observation to Comparative Measurement

Abstract

This article develops a research design for the empirical study of civilizational viability within the emerging metrological framework of Vitology. It continues the methodological sequence established in G27–G30, which introduced a metrology of civilizational viability, a comparative methodology for interaction architectures, a system of Civilizational Viability Indicators (CVI), and an empirical measurement protocol leading to the construction of a Comparative Viability Profile (CVP). The principal objective of G31 is to translate the measurement protocol into a reproducible organization of empirical research. For this purpose, the article introduces the Civilizational Viability Research Design (CVRD), which specifies system boundaries, units of observation, case-selection procedures, temporal intervals, data sources, coding procedures, comparative foundations, and requirements for reproducibility. The article further introduces the concepts of the Viability Evidence Unit (VEU), Comparative Observation Matrix (COM), and Cross-Level Evidence Chain (CLEC). It also formulates the Comparability Control Rule (CCR) and the Principle of Evidential Traceability (PET). The proposed research design does not assign predetermined viability values to civilizations, states, cultures, or geopolitical blocs. Instead, it provides a transparent and testable research architecture for examining the empirical consequences of different interaction configurations for the viability of their participants and of the larger interconnected system. Keywords: Vitology; civilizational viability; empirical research design; CVRD; CVI; CVP; VEU; COM; CLEC; comparative measurement; comparability; evidential traceability; multilevel viability.