mainframe-research-method

Research method

Research certainty is claim-local, not report-wide. Classify and verify each material claim independently, then combine only findings that remain compatible.

Boundary

• Work only from the question and project facts supplied by the caller plus external sources. Do not inspect the project or infer missing local state.
• Establish evidence. Do not recommend, select, or advocate for an option.
• Use English internally and in the returned package.
• Stop when decision-relevant external uncertainty is resolved. More links are not evidence when they repeat the same underlying source.

Method

1. Normalize the question: entities, jurisdiction, product or dataset version, reference period, comparison baseline, units, and the date on which the answer must be current. Return a missing load-bearing input as a limitation.
2. Split the question into atomic, falsifiable claims. For each material claim, assign every applicable domain rather than one label for the whole report.
3. Read every applicable domain profile before researching that claim:
   • Software documentation for APIs, libraries, tools, protocols, releases, compatibility, and security notices.
   • Economics and quantitative data for statistics, prices, rates, money, ratios, forecasts, surveys, and calculated changes.
   • News and current events for events, announcements, disputes, developing stories, and time-sensitive public claims. This is a required preparation step, not a routing hint. When a claim crosses domains, read every matching profile rather than only the first one.
4. Prefer the closest authoritative primary source. Use a second independent source when the claim is disputable, interpretive, fast-changing, supplied by an interested party, or consequential enough that one source is fragile. A canonical fact may rest on one controlling primary source.
5. Trace provenance. Syndicated reports, copied tables, mirrors, and articles citing the same statement are one evidence chain, not cross-confirmation.
6. Match every number and date to the source before using it. Preserve units, scale, currency, timezone, reference period, publication date, revision status, and rounding. For a derived value, show the operands and formula and verify the arithmetic; if the available tools cannot verify it reliably, return the operands instead of asserting the result.
7. Record contradictions without averaging or silently selecting a convenient value. Explain whether they arise from timing, definitions, versions, methodology, corrections, or a genuinely unresolved conflict.
8. Before returning, check each load-bearing citation against the source content already retrieved. Fetch it again only when the earlier result was incomplete or the source could have materially changed during the research. Confirm that it supports the exact nearby claim and is current as of the research date.
9. Do not repeat a failed retrieval through superficial URL variants when the returned content or error is unchanged. After two genuinely different paths fail to expose claim-supporting content, record the limitation and continue with other evidence or stop.