Corpus Discovery Dialogue

Purpose

Transform vague interest in a text corpus into concrete, answerable research questions with clear analytical roadmaps. Prevents aimless exploration and "fishing expedition" research.

Core innovation: Uses Socratic questioning to help researchers articulate what they don't yet consciously know they want to discover.

Core principle: Discovery before execution. Research questions emerge through dialogue, not pre-formed declarations. The researcher makes all interpretive decisions; this skill guides the process.

When to Use

Invocation Triggers:

• "Help me explore this corpus"
• "What questions should I ask of these [texts/reviews/documents]?"
• "Guide me through corpus analysis"
• "I have text data but don't know where to start"
• "Design a research plan for this corpus"