research-ideation

Research Ideation

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

Steps

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

1. 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?

1. 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

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

1. 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.)