interview-me

name	interview-me
description	Interactive interview to formalize a research idea into a structured specification with hypotheses and empirical strategy
disable-model-invocation	true
argument-hint	[brief topic or 'start fresh']
allowed-tools	["Read","Write"]

Research Interview

Conduct a structured interview to help formalize a research idea into a concrete specification.

Input: $ARGUMENTS -- a brief topic description or "start fresh" for an open-ended exploration.

How This Works

This is a conversational skill. Ask questions directly in your text responses, one or two at a time. Wait for the user to respond before continuing.

Interview Structure

Phase 1: The Big Picture (1-2 questions)

• "What phenomenon or puzzle are you trying to understand?"
• "Why does this matter? Who should care about the answer?"

Phase 2: Theoretical Motivation (1-2 questions)

• "What's your intuition for why X happens / what drives Y?"
• "What would standard theory predict?"

Phase 3: Data and Setting (1-2 questions)

• "What data do you have access to?"
• "Is there a specific context or institutional setting?"

Phase 4: Identification (1-2 questions)

• "Is there a natural experiment or source of variation you can exploit?"
• "What's the biggest threat to a causal interpretation?"

Phase 5: Expected Results (1-2 questions)

• "What would you expect to find?"
• "What would the results imply for policy or theory?"

Phase 6: Contribution (1 question)

• "How does this differ from what's already been done?"

After the Interview

Produce a Research Specification Document and save to quality_reports/research_spec_[sanitized_topic].md.

Interview Style

• Be curious, not prescriptive.
• Probe weak spots gently.
• Build on answers.
• Know when to stop.