<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH) allegedly provides an unbiased methodology for evaluating multiple competing hypotheses for observed data . It was developed by Richards (Dick) J. Heuer, Jr., a 45 - year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, in the 1970s for use by the Agency . ACH is used by analysts in various fields who make judgments that entail a high risk of error in reasoning . It helps an analyst overcome, or at least minimize, some of the cognitive limitations that make prescient intelligence analysis so difficult to achieve . </P> <P> ACH was a step forward in intelligence analysis methodology, but it was first described in relatively informal terms . Producing the best available information from uncertain data remains the goal of researchers, tool - builders, and analysts in industry, academia and government . Their domains include data mining, cognitive psychology and visualization, probability and statistics, etc . Abductive reasoning is an earlier concept with similarities to ACH . </P> <P> Heuer outlines the ACH process in considerable depth in his book, Psychology of Intelligence Analysis . It consists of the following steps: </P>

Which of the following has the strongest potential to be a collaborative tool