Skip to content
QFT.orgQFT.orgQFT.org

Research skills

Move from a published claim to a tractable project

Research starts before the novel calculation. Learn to identify exactly what a source claims, expose its assumptions, reproduce a decisive result, compare disagreement fairly, and define a next question small enough to finish.

Begin with claim tracingChoose a later step

Five cumulative outputs

Enter where your current evidence stops

Each step produces something the next step can use. Familiarity with the topic is not a substitute for the actual source map, calculation, comparison, or brief.

  1. 01Trace

    Find the claim behind the citation

    Use it whenA sentence is repeated widely, but you do not yet know which source establishes which part.

    You produceA precise claim, source roles, exact locators, assumptions, and nonclaims.

    Open step
  2. 02Classify

    Separate scope from confidence

    Use it whenWords such as established, excluded, promising, or open are doing too many jobs.

    You produceA claim sheet that separates assumptions, conventions, evidence, confidence, and question state.

    Open step
  3. 03Reproduce

    Test a result, not just a code path

    Use it whenYou need to reconstruct a derivation or run and add a check with a different failure mode.

    You produceA reproducible protocol, expected outputs, tolerances, and a validation check with a different failure mode.

    Open step
  4. 04Compare

    Locate the real disagreement

    Use it whenTwo results seem incompatible, a bound is null, or uncertainty language hides different objects.

    You produceA matched comparison, uncertainty decomposition, and a test that could distinguish explanations.

    Open step
  5. 05Bound

    Turn the remaining gap into a project

    Use it whenA broad interest needs one answerable question, a deliverable, and a stopping rule.

    You produceA one-page research brief with minimum background, method, risks, decision points, and handoff.

    Open step

Four habits

Keep the conclusion no stronger than the evidence

  • Match objects before results.Align observables, states, conventions, orders, data, and domains before calling two numbers inconsistent.
  • Separate running from validation.A successful execution checks the environment; convergence, benchmarks, and independent methods test the scientific claim.
  • Write the nearest nonclaim.State the tempting stronger conclusion that the available evidence does not support.
  • Give every project a stopping rule.Define what would count as proceed, revise, hand off, or stop before adding more background or computation.

Where these pages stop

Methods here; current evidence and execution in their own homes

The examples in this sequence teach durable research methods. For dated literature assessments and open questions, use Research. A specialist pathway supplies the scientific background for the calculation itself.

A good first move

Take one sentence you rely on and trace it to its source

The result should identify what is claimed, where it is established, which assumptions it uses, and what the source does not establish.

Start the first step