magnus919_agent-skills/research-methodology/README.md

# Research Methodology

Turn an open question into a bounded, evidence-led investigation rather than a plausible-sounding synthesis.

## Why Install This Skill

Turn an open question into a bounded, evidence-led investigation rather than a plausible-sounding synthesis. It preserves a practical method, local reference material, and reusable templates so an agent can do more than produce a generic answer. The method requires research to leave behind durable, source-linked artifacts that others can discover and reuse.

Use it when the work needs a repeatable process and an inspectable result. It is portable across Agent Skills-compatible clients and does not require a profile system or a particular task orchestrator.

## What You Get

| Path | What it provides |
|---|---|
| `SKILL.md` | Trigger conditions, workflow, and guidance for loading deeper resources. |
| `references/` | Journalistic, industry, comprehensive, technical-verification, source-evaluation, synthesis, and media-evidence routing guidance. |
| `assets/` | Research brief/log plus a media claim ledger for source-to-experiment closure and sampling audits. |

## Quick Start

Choose the research track in `SKILL.md`, then start from `assets/research-brief.md` and maintain a research log. Preserve the retained evidence and extracted claims in the long-lived research surface your agent and users normally use before delivering the synthesis.

For research involving media, also copy `assets/media-claim-ledger.md`. Use this skill to audit claims and evidence; use the `ffmpeg` skill for probes, extraction, experiments, editing, and verification.

Install or expose this directory using your agent's standard Agent Skills loading mechanism, then ask for work that matches the triggers below.

## Triggers

- Plan, conduct, evaluate, and synthesize rigorous research. Use for journalistic, industry, or technical investigations that need credible evidence and a traceable method.
- Requests involving the method, deliverables, or review process described in `SKILL.md`.
- Work where a reusable template or reference from this skill would reduce avoidable mistakes.
- Media research that needs sourced technical claims, build-specific reproduction records, sampling-completeness checks, or a clean handoff between FFmpeg evidence and human editorial judgment.

## Requirements

No runtime dependency. Use appropriate retrieval tools and retain source URLs and access dates in the research log.

## Source and maintenance

This skill was extracted from [`magnus919/hermes-profiles`](https://github.com/magnus919/hermes-profiles) at commit [`867a555`](https://github.com/magnus919/hermes-profiles/commit/867a555). The portable methodology was retained; Hermes-specific profile, orchestration, and memory assumptions were removed.