Generate scientific hypotheses
Read the relevant observation, design, project aims, prior analyses, and literature. Separate established evidence from assumptions.
Workflow
- Define the phenomenon, observational unit, scope, and uncertainty.
- Identify plausible mechanisms at relevant biological or technical levels.
- Generate multiple genuinely competing explanations, including confounding, measurement, and pipeline artifacts where appropriate.
- For each hypothesis, state supporting evidence, contradictory evidence, falsifying observations, and discriminating predictions.
- Propose the smallest informative test, required controls, expected outcomes, and alternative interpretations.
- Identify feasibility, identifiability, and ethical constraints.
Do not force a fixed number of hypotheses, rank novelty above validity, or convert hypotheses into project aims without user approval. Record an approved change to project direction through record-decision and update .research/project_telos.md only when requested.