Research prompts
Research prompt

Map the hypothesis space for a question

You have a question. Before chasing one answer, you want to know what answers are possible.

Works best in: Claude

Help me map the hypothesis space for this question. Don't just give me your best guess — show me the range of plausible answers.

The question:
{{your question}}

Context:
{{what I know so far, what's prompting this question}}

Output:
1. **The 3-5 possible answers** — frame each as a hypothesis, not a guess
2. **What evidence would support each** — what would I need to see?
3. **What evidence would falsify each** — equally important
4. **The prior probability** — which hypothesis is most likely a priori, before evidence?
5. **The cheapest experiment** to discriminate between hypotheses — what's the one piece of data that would update me most?

If the question is malformed (assumes its own answer, isn't actually answerable, conflates things), reframe it before answering.
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