Exp Lens Fair Comparison

Fair Comparison Experimental Design Lens

Philosophical Mode: Fairness Primary Question: "Are alternatives compared under symmetric constraints?" Focus: Compute Budget Symmetry, Tuning Protocol Parity, Data Access Equality, Engineering Effort Balance, Winner's Curse

When to Use

• Method comparisons where tuning effort differs
• Benchmark results where compute budgets are unequal
• Claims of SOTA that may reflect process differences
• User invokes /exp-lens-fair-comparison or /make-experiment-diag fairness

Critical Constraints

NEVER:

• Modify any source code files
• Do not litter the codebase with useless comments, TODO markers, or explanatory annotations — the skill output and diagram speak for themselves

ALWAYS:

• Build the full symmetry matrix — every method against every resource dimension
• Attribute improvements to method vs. process — both deserve accounting
• Flag undisclosed compute or tuning as a finding, not an assumption
• Assess the winner's curse: did the proposed method benefit from more selection pressure?
• BEFORE creating any diagram, LOAD the /mermaid skill using the Skill tool - this is MANDATORY

Analysis Workflow

Step 1: Launch Parallel Exploration Subagents

Spawn Explore subagents to investigate:

Compute & Resource Allocation

• Find compute resources used per method
• Look for: gpu, tpu, hours, cost, memory, flops, compute_budget, machine, cluster

Tuning Protocol per Method

• Find tuning procedures for each compared method
• Look for: grid_search, optuna, bayesian_opt, hyperband, tune, sweep, trials, budget, early_stop

Data Access & Preprocessing

• Find whether all methods use the same data pipeline
• Look for: data_augmentation, preprocessing, feature, embedding, pretrained, extra_data, auxiliary

Engineering Effort Indicators

• Find differential engineering investment
• Look for: custom, specialized, trick, hack, ensemble, post_process, calibrate, threshold_tune

Reporting Completeness

• Find whether resource usage is disclosed
• Look for: report, disclose, computational_cost, wall_time, parameter_count, training_time

Step 2: Build Symmetry Matrix

Build the symmetry matrix: rows = methods compared, columns = resource dimensions (compute, tuning, data, engineering, disclosure).

For each cell:

• Is the allocation symmetric?
• If not, does the asymmetry favor the proposed method?
• Estimate the magnitude of bias from each asymmetry.

Step 3: Analyze Effort Attribution

CRITICAL — Analyze Effort Attribution: For every claimed improvement:

• What fraction of the improvement can be attributed to the method itself vs. differential engineering effort, tuning budget, or data access?

Step 4: Create the Diagram

Use the mermaid skill conventions to create a symmetry diagram with:

Direction: LR (methods flow through resource allocation to evaluation)

Subgraphs:

• METHODS
• RESOURCE ALLOCATION
• EVALUATION

Node Styling:

• cli class: Proposed method
• phase class: Comparator methods
• handler class: Shared resources
• gap class: Asymmetric resources
• detector class: Symmetry checks
• output class: Results

Step 5: Write Output

Write the diagram to: temp/exp-lens-fair-comparison/exp_diag_fair_comparison_{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS}.md

Output Template

# Fair Comparison Analysis: {Experiment Name}

**Lens:** Fair Comparison (Fairness)
**Question:** Are alternatives compared under symmetric constraints?
**Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD}
**Scope:** {What was analyzed}

## Symmetry Matrix

| Method | Compute | Tuning Budget | Data Access | Engineering | Disclosure |
|--------|---------|---------------|-------------|-------------|------------|
| {proposed method} | {allocation} | {budget} | {access} | {effort} | {disclosed?} |
| {comparator} | {allocation} | {budget} | {access} | {effort} | {disclosed?} |

## Resource Disclosure

| Resource Type | Proposed Method | Comparators | Symmetric? |
|---------------|-----------------|-------------|------------|
| {GPU hours} | {value} | {value} | {Yes/No} |
| {Tuning trials} | {value} | {value} | {Yes/No} |
| {Extra data} | {value} | {value} | {Yes/No} |

## Symmetry Diagram

```mermaid
%%{init: {'flowchart': {'nodeSpacing': 50, 'rankSpacing': 60, 'curve': 'basis'}}}%%
graph LR
    %% CLASS DEFINITIONS %%
    classDef cli fill:#1a237e,stroke:#7986cb,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef stateNode fill:#004d40,stroke:#4db6ac,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef handler fill:#e65100,stroke:#ffb74d,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef phase fill:#6a1b9a,stroke:#ba68c8,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef newComponent fill:#2e7d32,stroke:#81c784,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef output fill:#00695c,stroke:#4db6ac,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef detector fill:#b71c1c,stroke:#ef5350,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;
    classDef gap fill:#ff6f00,stroke:#ffa726,stroke-width:2px,color:#000;
    classDef integration fill:#c62828,stroke:#ef9a9a,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff;

    subgraph Methods ["METHODS"]
        direction TB
        PROP["Proposed Method<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Method under<br/>evaluation"]
        COMP["Comparator Methods<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Baseline and<br/>prior work"]
    end

    subgraph Resources ["RESOURCE ALLOCATION"]
        direction TB
        SHARED["Shared Resources<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Same data, same<br/>evaluation protocol"]
        ASYM["Asymmetric Resources<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Differential compute<br/>or tuning budget"]
        CHECK["Symmetry Check<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Verify parity<br/>across methods"]
    end

    subgraph Eval ["EVALUATION"]
        direction TB
        RESULT["Results<br/>━━━━━━━━━━<br/>Reported<br/>performance"]
    end

    PROP --> SHARED
    COMP --> SHARED
    PROP --> ASYM
    SHARED --> CHECK
    ASYM --> CHECK
    CHECK --> RESULT

    %% CLASS ASSIGNMENTS %%
    class PROP cli;
    class COMP phase;
    class SHARED handler;
    class ASYM gap;
    class CHECK detector;
    class RESULT output;

Winner's Curse Assessment

Process-vs-Method Attribution Analysis

• Method contribution: {estimated fraction}
• Tuning contribution: {estimated fraction}
• Engineering contribution: {estimated fraction}
• Data access contribution: {estimated fraction}

Key Findings

• {Description of most significant asymmetries and their impact on claimed improvements}

---

## Pre-Diagram Checklist

Before creating the diagram, verify:

- [ ] LOADED `/mermaid` skill using the Skill tool
- [ ] Using ONLY classDef styles from the mermaid skill (no invented colors)
- [ ] Diagram will include a color legend table

---

## Related Skills

- `/make-experiment-diag` - Parent skill for lens selection
- `/mermaid` - MUST BE LOADED before creating diagram
- `/exp-lens-comparator-construction` - For baseline selection and construction adequacy
- `/exp-lens-sensitivity-robustness` - For sensitivity analysis across conditions