Framing and Definitions

What does a framework do?

• Gives judge a mechanism to decide who wins
• Places constraints on round – what you’ll be debating and what kinds of impacts matter
• Filters impacts so the judge knows what matters and what doesn’t. This is strategic because it allows you to exclude + preclude impacts.
  • Example: you’re at the cafeteria. one option is veggies, but the other is fatty (it tastes good though). Changing the criterion to be nutrition rather than taste changes which one you select.
• Use the frameword to prevent your opponent from winning the best/largest impact on their side
• All frameworks have trade-offs – going for more narrow (specific) frameworks vs very broad ones. Narrow allows you to exclude more opposing arguments and hone in on a specific argument, broad gives more freedom.

Definitions

You don’t want to have debates using two different definitions. This leads to a bad debate and forces the judge to arbitrarily choose a definition. You’ll get a definition period at the beginning of the round to make sure everyone’s on same page.

Example

This has a major impact on the question of whether victims willingly enter NDAs. If you include only after-accusation NDAs, neg has a stronger case because they can say victims willingly and consciously enter them.