general-research-workflow

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

Purpose

• Provide a default research workflow when no specialized skill is specified.
• Ensure constraint clarity, evidence hygiene, and confidence ceilings.
• Maintain skill-forge structure: SKILL + README + examples + references.

Trigger Conditions

• Positive: open-ended research tasks, quick investigations, or shaping a plan before deeper pipelines.
• Negative: heavy orchestration (use deep-research-orchestrator) or prompt-only work (prompt-architect).

Guardrails

• Extract HARD / SOFT / INFERRED constraints with sources; confirm INFERRED items early.
• Two-pass refinement on deliverables: structure/coverage then epistemic validation.
• Keep outputs in English, cite evidence, and state confidence with ceilings.

Inputs

• Research question or decision to support.
• Time constraints, depth expectations, and deliverable format.
• Starting sources (if any) and exclusions.

Workflow

1. Frame & Constraints: Capture the question, decision, and constraint buckets.
2. Search & Collect: Gather high-signal sources; log provenance.
3. Analyze: Extract claims, compare sources, and note conflicts or gaps.
4. Synthesize: Organize findings into themes tied to the question and constraints.
5. Validate: Check coverage vs. constraints, source quality, and confidence ceilings.
6. Deliver: Provide summary, evidence table, risks, and next steps; store references/examples.

Validation & Quality Gates

• Minimum two passes completed with documented changes.
• Evidence linked to sources; conflicting evidence surfaced.
• Confidence ceilings aligned to evidence type.
• Deliverables stored with project tags.

Response Template

**Question & Constraints**
- HARD: ...
- SOFT: ...
- INFERRED (confirm): ...

**Findings**
- Claim → evidence → confidence ceiling.

**Gaps / Risks**
- ...

**Next Steps**
- ...

Confidence: 0.78 (ceiling: inference 0.70) - based on gathered evidence and validation checks.

Confidence: 0.78 (ceiling: inference 0.70) - Default setting after completing the SOP.