What problem does it solve? Researchers in social sciences and humanities often struggle to judge whether their topic is worth pursuing, whether their research question is a genuine problem, and how to turn a vague interest into an operational research design. This Skill provides a structured diagnostic process distilled from 9 authoritative methodology sources across 9 disciplines. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Drive-Type Positioning: Identifies whether your topic is driven by empirical paradox, theoretical contradiction, literature gap, method limitation, or archival data, with source-attributed next steps for each type. - Question Quality Testing: Applies Zhao Dingxin's six-element test, the puzzle-vs-difficulty distinction, and the difference-questioning vs process-questioning diagnostic to validate research questions. - Defense Construction & Operationalization: Guides building theoretical, practical, and feasibility defenses, then converts the question into hypothesis trees, concept naming, and iterative title refinement. - Use Case: A doctoral student says "I have an idea but don't know if it can become a dissertation." The Skill walks them through drive-type identification, six-element question testing, three-part topic defense, and hypothesis-tree construction, with every criterion traceable to a named scholar. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to diagnose my research topic using the four-step problematization framework and tell me whether my research question passes the quality tests.
