Research Planning

Decompose the topic into 3-7 specific sub-questions using the 5W1H framework, generate 2-3 targeted search queries per question, set a claim budget of 10 or fewer, and define tier rules for source quality. Save the result as a research/plan.json file for confirmation before execution.

A claim budget limits the number of load-bearing claims in a deliverable, with 10 recommended for most research. Quick research uses 5 claims, while deep research may justify 10-15. This constraint maintains signal over noise in the final output.

Tier-1 sources are primary and authoritative: government agencies like census.gov and sec.gov, research firms like Gartner, IDC, and McKinsey, peer-reviewed journals, and official technical documentation. High-stakes claims require at least two independent Tier-1 sources.

Exclude content farms, affiliate review pages, and low-authority domains using operators like -site:medium.com, -inurl:review, and -inurl:best. Target canonical domains with site: filters and use freshness parameters to prioritize recent data.

Tier-2 sources like the Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, and CB Insights are acceptable for medium-stakes claims such as features, pricing, and sentiment, or for exploratory low-stakes research. They can supplement but not replace Tier-1 sources for high-stakes claims.