Chapter 8 · Educational
Following the Question Trail
A good researcher rarely wanders — not because they have guessed the answer, but because they are holding a question. The moment you assume you know the answer is the moment you stop researching it: you start seeing only what confirms the guess. The method's protection is simple — carry one question at a time, let each source answer it, and let that answer produce the next question. Here you do exactly that for a real veterans-benefits problem, from a secondary source down to the case that answers your client's question.
The client & the first question
A veteran filed for disability compensation and submitted a private physician’s statement. The VA found it “inadequate for rating purposes.” The client disagrees and wants to push back.
You do not yet know what the law requires here — and you resist the urge to guess. The file itself supplies the first question, in its own words: “What must the VA do when it decides a veteran’s disability claim — and can it reject the claim just by calling the evidence inadequate?” Let’s research it.