RMP.1:1 - Problem Frame

Many activities appear on both sides of the research boundary. A laboratory test can execute an already qualified engineering Method or challenge the mechanism that makes the test relevant. Repeated stream measurements can implement routine monitoring or investigate an unexplained pattern and rival causes. Reading sources can retrieve an already available answer or form one part of a criticism-bearing synthesis. Interviews can support routine evaluation or a situated inquiry whose interpretations and negative cases remain open.

The boundary is therefore relational. It depends on what is unresolved relative to a qualified current frame, what episteme may change for which use, which non-routine choice and criticism are required, how the Work will remain inspectable, and what kind of result will be returned. Neither a prestigious venue nor an informal citizen setting changes those relations.

A useful entry pattern must be permissive enough to inspect an ambiguous request and strict enough not to relabel every uncertainty as research. It must also preserve a cheap exit: if current source work already answers the question, starting a new study is a defect, not diligence.