Research Principles
How Project Loom produces knowledge.
1. Evidence over assertion.
Claims should be supported by verifiable evidence whenever possible. Confidence should be proportional to the quality of available evidence, and unsupported assertions should be clearly identified as hypotheses rather than conclusions.
2. Reproducibility over intuition.
Analyses should be transparent enough that another researcher following the same evidence and methodology could reasonably reproduce the same conclusions. Personal intuition may inspire investigation but should never substitute for documented reasoning.
3. Explicit assumptions over hidden assumptions.
Every analytical framework rests on assumptions. Rather than allowing them to remain implicit, Project Loom identifies them openly so they can be evaluated, challenged, revised, or rejected as evidence evolves.
4. Mechanisms over ideology.
Project Loom investigates how governance systems function rather than whether particular political goals are desirable. Institutional mechanisms, authority structures, dependencies, and implementation processes are the primary objects of analysis regardless of the surrounding political context.
5. Systems over isolated events.
Individual policies and institutional failures are rarely self-contained. They emerge from larger systems of governance. Project Loom therefore analyzes relationships, dependencies, feedback loops, and institutional interactions rather than treating events as independent occurrences.
6. Open methods wherever practical.
The project’s methodologies, conceptual frameworks, decision logs, and analytical processes should be documented and available for scrutiny whenever doing so does not compromise legal, ethical, or practical constraints. Transparency strengthens credibility and encourages improvement.
7. Working hypotheses, not finished doctrine.
Project Loom is intended to evolve. Concepts, frameworks, and methodologies remain open to refinement as additional case studies reveal strengths, weaknesses, or entirely new patterns. Every version represents the current best explanation rather than a permanent truth.
Change Log
| Version | Date | Changes | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| v0.1 | 2026-07-11 | Initial Research Principles | Extracted from PL-001 Project Loom Charter |