research-ideation

name	research-ideation
description	Generate structured research questions, testable hypotheses, and empirical strategies from a topic or dataset.
disable-model-invocation	true
argument-hint	[topic, phenomenon, or dataset description]
allowed-tools	["Read","Grep","Glob","Write"]

Research Ideation

Generate 3-5 research questions ordered from descriptive to causal.

Steps

1. Understand context: Read CLAUDE.md and any relevant project files.

2. Generate 3-5 research questions ordered by type:

   • Descriptive: What are the stylized facts?
   • Correlational: What patterns exist in the data?
   • Causal: What is the effect of X on Y?
   • Mechanism: Through what channel does X affect Y?
   • Policy: What are the policy implications?

3. For each question, develop:

   • Testable hypothesis with expected sign/magnitude
   • Identification strategy (DiD, IV, RDD, synthetic control, matching, etc.)
   • Data requirements with availability assessment
   • Key assumptions and their plausibility
   • Potential pitfalls and how to address them
   • 2-3 related papers

4. Rank questions by feasibility and contribution in a summary table.

5. Save output to quality_reports/research_ideation_[sanitized_topic].md.

Principles

• Be creative but grounded in what's feasible
• Think like a referee: what would make this convincing?
• Consider data availability realistically
• Suggest specific datasets (FRED, Census, PSID, BLS, central bank data, etc.)