How we report Sandbox Tenability results
Breaking down how tenability ratings are categorized and counted
When Sandboxers review a partner’s explanation, they assign a Tenability rating from a predefined list of values:
Well said
That’s reasonable
That’s reasonable, but I disagree
I’m not following
That’s a dangerous idea
The first three options (Well said, That’s reasonable, and That’s reasonable, but I disagree) are considered Tenable responses.
That’s a dangerous idea is clearly Untenable.
I’m not following is more ambiguous. It is sometimes used neutrally to mean I don’t understand, but it can also signal incredulity. For this reason, we report it separately in our tenability bar charts (neither positive nor negative).
Figure: The image above highlights “I’m not following” responses.
Not every Sandbox conversation pairs people from opposite ends of the political spectrum. To avoid inflating Tenability results, we only count positive tenability ratings when the partners’ political self-IDs are unaligned; i.e., identify with different political “sides.” Alignment is determined using the following logic:
If both participants identify as left-leaning (Very Progressive, Progressive, or Center-Left), the result is Aligned.
If both participants identify as right-leaning (Very Conservative, Conservative, or Center-Right), the result is Aligned.
If both identify as Center or a mix of Center, Center-Left, or Center-Right, the result is Aligned.
All other combinations are considered Unaligned.