Validation of the Standard Coherence Fidelity Layer (SCFL) as a Cross-Domain Measurement Instrument: Preregistered Protocol and Simulation-Based Expected Results

The Standard Coherence Fidelity Layer (SCFL) is a geometry-based, domain-agnostic measurement instrument designed to quantify coherence, degradation, and recovery patterns across human, organizational, and systemic contexts. This paper presents the preregistered protocol and simulation-based expected results for the first empirical validation of SCFL as a psychological measurement instrument.The planned study (N = 300, stratified across three cohorts: general population, high-stress professionals, and aging adults) will evaluate SCFL’s construct validity against four established instruments (Purpose in Life Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale-13), inter-rater reliability (target ICC ≥ 0.85), internal consistency (target α ≥ 0.90), test-retest stability over 14 days (target r ≥ 0.85), and cross-domain measurement invariance via multi-group confirmatory factor analysis.SCFL is operationalized through three measurement operators—Δ (deviation magnitude), Φ (structural fidelity), and τ (temporal stability and recovery potential)—extracted via a standardized five-stage calibration procedure from 150–300 word narrative segments. Inter-rater reliability will be achieved through gold-standard training (ICC ≥ 0.85 on 50-segment calibration set) and adjudication protocols.This document presents the complete preregistered analysis plan and simulation-based expected effect sizes demonstrating power and precision for the proposed design. No human data have been collected. Observed results will replace these simulations upon completion of data collection (target N ≥ 240).CRITICAL NOTE: This validation applies exclusively to linguistic instantiation of SCFL. Cross-substrate generalization to behavioral and system-level data remains a hypothesis for future empirical investigation and is not established by this study.Implications: If validation succeeds, SCFL would offer a validated, reproducible instrument for measuring coherence in narrative data with applications to health sciences, aging research, behavioral medicine, and early-warning systems for individual and organizational crises.