stopping-criteria

Stopping Criteria

When to Use This Skill

• When approaching iteration limit
• When considering if investigation is "done"
• When deciding between continuing vs synthesizing

The Core Question

"Have we learned enough to answer the research question?"

Hard Stops (Must Stop)

These are non-negotiable stopping points:

1. Iteration Budget Exhausted

• You've reached max_iterations
• Action: Begin final synthesis immediately

2. Budget Exceeded

• Cost exceeds allowed threshold
• Action: Stop and synthesize with what you have

3. Catastrophic Failure

• Data is fundamentally flawed
• Analysis approach is wrong
• Action: Document the issue, stop investigation

Soft Stops (Consider Stopping)

These indicate you MIGHT be done:

1. Coherent Mechanistic Model

Criteria:

• You can explain the phenotype with a plausible mechanism
• Multiple findings support the same model
• No major contradictions remain

Example:

Research question: "Why is hypothermia neuroprotective?"

Model:
1. Hypothermia → metabolic shift to energy-efficient pathways
2. Nucleotide salvage increased (evidence: precursor depletion)
3. Membrane remodeling with PUFA enrichment (evidence: PC changes)
4. Enhanced antioxidant capacity (evidence: uronic acid pathway)

This is coherent ✓

Action: Consider stopping to synthesize

2. Diminishing Returns

Signs:

• Last 5 iterations produced no new insights
• All high-priority hypotheses tested
• Only low-impact questions remain
• Repeating similar analyses

Example:

Iteration 45: No new findings
Iteration 46: Tested marginal hypothesis (p=0.3)
Iteration 47: Re-analyzed previous finding
Iteration 48: Explored irrelevant variable
Iteration 49: ???

Action: Stop and synthesize rather than continue unproductively

3. Sufficient Coverage

Criteria:

• Tested all major pathway classes
• Addressed both positive and negative controls
• Examined key confounders (sex, age, etc.)
• Answered sub-questions of main research question