Skip to content

R0044/2026-04-01/Q004 — Self-Audit

ROBIS 4-Domain Audit

Domain 1: Eligibility Criteria

Rating: Low risk

Criterion Assessment
Criteria defined before searching Yes — sought CaTE publications and assessed system-side vs. human-side focus
Criteria applied consistently Yes
Criteria shift detected No

Domain 2: Search Comprehensiveness

Rating: Some concerns

Criterion Assessment
Multiple search strategies used Yes — center overview + specific guidebook search
Searches designed to test each hypothesis Yes
All results dispositioned Yes — 20 results returned, all dispositioned
Source diversity achieved Limited — 3 sources, all from CaTE's institutional ecosystem

Notes: Concern: CaTE guidebook PDF was not extractable, limiting detailed content analysis. Source diversity is limited because CaTE is a single center with few publications.

Domain 3: Evaluation Consistency

Rating: Low risk

Criterion Assessment
All sources scored using same framework Yes
Evidence typed consistently Yes
ACH matrix applied Yes
Diagnosticity analysis performed Yes

Domain 4: Synthesis Fairness

Rating: Low risk

Criterion Assessment
All hypotheses given fair hearing Yes — H1 (system-side focus) was actively searched for
Contradictory evidence surfaced N/A — all sources converge
Confidence calibrated to evidence Yes — Medium reflects inaccessible guidebook full text
Gaps acknowledged Yes — guidebook full text and internal working papers

Domain 5: Source-Back Verification

Rating: Low risk

Source Claim in Assessment Source Actually Says Match?
SRC02 CaTE does not use sycophancy vocabulary Confirmed: vocabulary is calibrated trust, human-machine teaming Yes
SRC03 $20M funding, Kim Sablon oversight Directly stated in article Yes
SRC01 Published April 2025, Mellinger et al. Confirmed from SEI library listing Yes

Discrepancies found: 1 minor

Corrections applied: Query referred to "Calibrated AI Trust and Expectations" but CaTE stands for "Calibrated Trust Measurement and Evaluation." Corrected in query definition.

Unresolved flags: None

Overall Assessment

Overall risk of bias: Low risk

Researcher Bias Check

  • Institutional bias: All sources are from CaTE's institutional ecosystem (SEI, DoD, defense news). No external critique of CaTE's approach was found. This limits the assessment's ability to identify weaknesses in CaTE's scope.
  • Framing bias: The query's characterization of CaTE as having "the most sophisticated vocabulary" was tested rather than assumed, and tempered in the assessment.