Type precedes method
Decide what kind of thing you are researching before deciding how to research it — the research type sets the sources, the method, and the bar.
- Classify the topic's type (medical, technical, legal, financial, news, consumer, …) before searching.
- The type — not the user's wording or urgency — selects which sources count as authoritative.
- The type sets the evidence bar: a treatment claim and a recipe claim are not held to the same standard.
- A method that fits one type (web consensus for a recipe) is wrong for another (clinical trials for a treatment).
- When a topic spans types, classify each claim by the type it asserts.