researching-on-the-internet

# Researching on the Internet

## Overview

Gather accurate, current, well-sourced information from the internet to inform planning and design decisions. Test hypotheses, verify claims, and find authoritative sources for APIs, libraries, and best practices.

## When to Use

**Use for:**
- Finding current API documentation before integration design
- Testing hypotheses ("Is library X faster than Y?", "Does approach Z work with version N?")
- Verifying technical claims or assumptions
- Researching library comparison and alternatives
- Finding best practices and current community consensus

**Don't use for:**
- Information already in codebase (use codebase search)
- General knowledge within Claude's training (just answer directly)
- Project-specific conventions (check CLAUDE.md)

## Core Research Workflow

1. **Define question clearly** - specific beats vague
2. **Search official sources first** - docs, release notes, changelogs
3. **Cross-reference** - verify claims across multiple sources
4. **Evaluate quality** - tier sources (official → verified → community)
5. **Report concisely** - lead with answer, provide links and evidence

## Hypothesis Testing

When given a hypothesis to test:

1. **Identify falsifiable claims** - break hypothesis into testable parts
2. **Search for supporting evidence** - what confirms this?
3. **Search for disproving evidence** - what contradicts this?
4. **Evaluate source quality** - weight evidence by tier
5. **Report findings** - supported/contradicted/inconclusive with evidence
6. **Note confidence level** - strong consensus vs single source vs conflicting info

**Example:**
```
Hypothesis: "Library X is faster than Y for large datasets"

Search for:
✓ Benchmarks comparing X and Y
✓ Performance documentation for both
✓ GitHub issues mentioning performance
✓ Real-world case studies

Report:
- Supported: [evidence with links]
- Contradicted: [evidence with links]
- Conclusion: [supported/contradicted/mixed] with [confidence level]
```

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