qual-init - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: qual-init description: Initialize a new qualitative research project with Socratic onboarding. Guides researchers through philosophical foundation establishment via interactive dialogue. Use when starting a new project, setting up epistemic stance, or configuring methodological preferences. type: flow

qual-init: Project Initialization Flow

Flow skill for Socratic onboarding into Interpretive Orchestration.

Flow Overview

flowchart TD
    BEGIN([BEGIN]) --> CHECK{Project exists?}
    
    CHECK -->|Yes| LOAD[Load existing config]
    CHECK -->|No| CREATE[Create new project]
    
    LOAD --> Q1[Question 1: Ontology]
    CREATE --> Q1
    
    Q1 --> SAVE1[Save checkpoint]
    SAVE1 --> Q2[Question 2: Epistemology]
    
    Q2 --> SAVE2[Save checkpoint]
    SAVE2 --> Q3[Question 3: Methodology]
    
    Q3 --> SAVE3[Save checkpoint]
    SAVE3 --> Q4[Question 4: AI Relationship]
    
    Q4 --> SAVE4[Save checkpoint]
    SAVE4 --> Q5[Question 5: Stage 1 Plan]
    
    Q5 --> GENERATE[Generate config.json + stance.md]
    GENERATE --> STRUCTURE[Create folder structure]
    STRUCTURE --> SUMMARY[Show summary + next steps]
    
    SUMMARY --> END([END])

The 5 Questions

Q1: Ontology — What is "data"?

Question: When you read research data, what are you encountering?

Options:

A) Objective facts waiting to be discovered (Realist)
B) Meanings requiring systematic interpretation (Interpretivist) ← Default
C) Co-created realities with participants (Constructivist)
D) Let me think about this

Follow-up if D: Socratic dialogue to help researcher decide.

Q2: Epistemology — How do we know?

Question: How do you believe we can generate knowledge from qualitative data?

Options:

A) Through rigorous objective analysis
B) Through systematic interpretation balancing rigor and sensitivity ← Default
C) Through co-construction with participants
D) I'm not sure

Q3: Methodology — Your tradition

Question: Which qualitative tradition resonates with your approach?

Options:

A) Gioia & Corley Systematic Interpretivism ← Default
B) Charmaz Constructivist Grounded Theory
C) Classic Glaserian Grounded Theory
D) Phenomenology
E) Ethnography
F) Other / Not sure

Q4: AI Relationship

Question: How do you want AI to support your research?

Options:

A) As a tool that automates tasks
B) As a thinking partner that deepens my reflexivity ← Default
C) I'm not sure what AI can offer

Teaching moment: Explain "calculator mindset" vs. "epistemic partnership"

Q5: Stage 1 Planning

Question: How will you approach Stage 1 (manual foundation building)?

Options:

A) Full plan — I'll code 10-15 documents before AI collaboration ← Recommended
B) Minimum — I'll try 5 documents first
C) I don't have time for manual coding

Response if C: Explain why this matters, offer minimum viable path.

Savepoints

After each question, save checkpoint to .interpretive-orchestration/checkpoint.json:

{
  "checkpoint_id": "q3_epistemology",
  "responses": {
    "q1": {"answer": "B", "elaboration": "..."},
    "q2": {"answer": "B", "elaboration": "..."},
    "q3": {"answer": "A", "elaboration": "..."}
  },
  "timestamp": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Generated Files

config.json

Machine-readable configuration based on responses.

epistemic-stance.md

Human-readable philosophical statement.

README.md

Project documentation with quick start.

Usage

/flow:qual-init                    # Start onboarding
/flow:qual-init --resume           # Resume from checkpoint
/flow:qual-init --reconfigure      # Re-run with existing config

Next Steps After Flow

After completion, researcher should:

Review epistemic-stance.md
Begin Stage 1 manual coding
Use @stage1-listener for thinking partnership
Complete 10-15 documents before Stage 2

Note: @stage1-listener routing works when you run Kimi with:

kimi --agent-file .agents/agents/interpretive-orchestrator.yaml

Part of Interpretive Orchestration for Kimi CLI