Phase 1 — General Methodological Foundation: Domain of Validity, Comparability, and Global Closure

This technical note presents the Phase 1 — General Methodological Foundation of the MCI Cosmological Research Program.The work introduces a set of procedural criteria designed to clarify the domain of validity, comparability, and global closure of inferential frameworks in physics and related disciplines. Rather than proposing new physical laws or models, this phase establishes methodological constraints that determine when comparisons, extrapolations, and global interpretations are legitimate, and when apparent tensions arise from violations of these constraints. The framework is deliberately conservative and diagnostic in nature. It aims to prevent category errors, overextensions of models beyond their intended domains, and spurious claims of inconsistency across theories or datasets. This Phase 1 is independent and self-contained. It serves as a methodological foundation for subsequent phases of the program, without presupposing or anticipating their results. No new dynamics, parameters, or ontological commitments are introduced.