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kinhluan (@kinhluan) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Research Question by kinhluan — Agent Skill

Name: Research Question
Author: kinhluan

Research Question

Formulate research questions, hypotheses, and contribution statements from identified literature gaps. Use when defining a research problem, framing a thesis topic, identifying novelty, or writing the "contribution" section of a proposal or paper.

kinhluan 80dee12 2 files · 3.8 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Research Question Formulation

Bridge the gap between what exists (SOTA) and what you'll contribute.

Prerequisite

Run sota-survey first. You need a gap table before formulating RQ.

Workflow

Step 1 — Gap → Problem Statement

For each gap from SOTA survey, apply this template:

Despite [what exists], [limitation/gap] remains unsolved because [root cause].
This causes [concrete consequence] in [application domain].

Example:

Despite federated learning achieving competitive accuracy, communication efficiency in heterogeneous IoT networks remains unsolved because existing methods assume uniform client capabilities. This causes excessive energy drain in resource-constrained healthcare devices.

Step 2 — Formulate Research Questions

Main RQ (1 sentence):

How can [method/approach] be designed to [achieve goal] in [context/constraint]?

Sub-questions (2-4, each answerable in ~1 paper/chapter):

RQ1: [measurable, specific]
RQ2: [builds on RQ1]
RQ3: [validates or extends]

RQ Quality Check:

Specific — not "improve performance" but "reduce communication rounds by X%"
Feasible — answerable in your timeline with your resources
Novel — not already answered in literature
Significant — matters to the field
Ethical — no harm, IRB if needed

Step 3 — Hypothesis (if experimental)

H0 (null): [Method A] performs no better than [baseline] on [metric] in [setting]
H1 (alternative): [Method A] achieves [≥X% improvement] over [baseline] on [metric]

Step 4 — Contribution Statement

Structure for proposal and paper Introduction:

## Contributions

This work makes the following contributions:

1. **[Type: Algorithm/Framework/Dataset/Analysis]**: We propose [name], which [what it does] to address [gap].
2. **[Type]**: We demonstrate [empirical result] on [benchmark], showing [magnitude] improvement over [baseline].
3. **[Type]** (optional): We release [artifact] for reproducibility.

Contribution types: Algorithm, Framework, Dataset, Benchmark, Analysis, Survey, System, Theorem.

Step 5 — Scope Boundary

Explicitly state what you will NOT do (saves you from committee scope creep):

Out of scope:
- [Related problem you won't solve and why]
- [Assumption you're making]
- [Limitation you accept]

Output Format

## Research Problem Definition

**Problem:** [1-2 sentence problem statement]

**Main RQ:** [Single question]

**Sub-questions:**
- RQ1: ...
- RQ2: ...

**Hypothesis:**
- H0: ...
- H1: ...

**Contributions:**
1. ...
2. ...

**Out of scope:** ...

Links to Other Skills

Requires → sota-survey (gap table as input)
Feeds into → phd-proposal (problem statement section)
Feeds into → paper-writing (Introduction + Contribution sections)

---name: research-questiondescription: Formulate research questions, hypotheses, and contribution statements from identified literature gaps. Use when defining a research problem, framing a thesis topic, identifying novelty, or writing the "contribution" section of a proposal or paper.---# Research Question FormulationBridge the gap between what exists (SOTA) and what you'll contribute.## PrerequisiteRun `sota-survey` first. You need a gap table before formulating RQ.## Workflow### Step 1 — Gap → Problem StatementFor each gap from SOTA survey, apply this template:```Despite [what exists], [limitation/gap] remains unsolved because [root cause].This causes [concrete consequence] in [application domain].```Example:> Despite federated learning achieving competitive accuracy, communication efficiency in heterogeneous IoT networks remains unsolved because existing methods assume uniform client capabilities. This causes excessive energy drain in resource-constrained healthcare devices.### Step 2 — Formulate Research Questions**Main RQ (1 sentence):**```How can [method/approach] be designed to [achieve goal] in [context/constraint]?```**Sub-questions (2-4, each answerable in ~1 paper/chapter):**- RQ1: [measurable, specific]- RQ2: [builds on RQ1]- RQ3: [validates or extends]**RQ Quality Check:**- [ ] Specific — not "improve performance" but "reduce communication rounds by X%"- [ ] Feasible — answerable in your timeline with your resources- [ ] Novel — not already answered in literature- [ ] Significant — matters to the field- [ ] Ethical — no harm, IRB if needed### Step 3 — Hypothesis (if experimental)```H0 (null): [Method A] performs no better than [baseline] on [metric] in [setting]H1 (alternative): [Method A] achieves [≥X% improvement] over [baseline] on [metric]```### Step 4 — Contribution StatementStructure for proposal and paper Introduction:```markdown## ContributionsThis work makes the following contributions:1. **[Type: Algorithm/Framework/Dataset/Analysis]**: We propose [name], which [what it does] to address [gap].2. **[Type]**: We demonstrate [empirical result] on [benchmark], showing [magnitude] improvement over [baseline].3. **[Type]** (optional): We release [artifact] for reproducibility.```Contribution types: Algorithm, Framework, Dataset, Benchmark, Analysis, Survey, System, Theorem.### Step 5 — Scope BoundaryExplicitly state what you will NOT do (saves you from committee scope creep):```Out of scope:- [Related problem you won't solve and why]- [Assumption you're making]- [Limitation you accept]```## Output Format```markdown## Research Problem Definition**Problem:** [1-2 sentence problem statement]**Main RQ:** [Single question]**Sub-questions:**- RQ1: ...- RQ2: ...**Hypothesis:**- H0: ...- H1: ...**Contributions:**1. ...2. ...**Out of scope:** ...```## Links to Other Skills- Requires → `sota-survey` (gap table as input)- Feeds into → `phd-proposal` (problem statement section)- Feeds into → `paper-writing` (Introduction + Contribution sections)

Frequently asked questions