Research Protocol Writer

Research Protocol Skill

by mohitagw15856 · MIT license · ★ 1,395 on GitHub · updated Sep 23

Write a structured research protocol or study design document. Use when asked to write a research protocol, study protocol, research plan, methodology section, or research proposal.

---
name: research-protocol
description: "Write a structured research protocol or study design document. Use when asked to write a research protocol, study protocol, research plan, methodology section, or research proposal. Produces a complete protocol with objectives, methodology, ethical considerations, and analysis plan."
---

# Research Protocol Skill

Produces structured research protocols for academic, clinical, social science, or market research studies.

## Required Inputs
- **Research type** (clinical trial / observational / qualitative / systematic review / survey)
- **Research question or hypothesis**
- **Setting and population**
- **Proposed methodology**
- **Timeline**
- **Funder or institution** (if applicable)

## Output Structure

Overview

Produces structured research protocols for academic, clinical, social science, or market research studies.

Manual install (npx, ZIP)

Claude Codenpx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill research-protocol -g -a claude-code

Claude Code (manual)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && curl -sL https://codeload.github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tar.gz/f6ca79348c55 \
  | tar -xz -C ~/.claude/skills --strip-components=2 pm-claude-skills-f6ca79348c55/skills/research-protocol

Windows (PowerShell)

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$HOME\.claude\skills" | Out-Null; Invoke-WebRequest "https://m.agentalley.io/zip/8752ed00bc49345a8eae/research-protocol.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\research-protocol.zip"; Expand-Archive "$env:TEMP\research-protocol.zip" -DestinationPath "$HOME\.claude\skills" -Force

Claude.ai / desktopDownload the ZIP and upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

Codex, Cursor, other agentsPoint them at SKILL.md. The other files are plain text.

Connects with Agent Alley MCP · agentalley.io/mcp

Files included

SKILL.md3.7 KB

Read the files here

mohitagw15856/f6ca7931 file

SKILL.md3.7 KB

SKILL.md

Show the full text107 lines

Research Protocol Skill

Produces structured research protocols for academic, clinical, social science, or market research studies.

Required Inputs

Research type (clinical trial / observational / qualitative / systematic review / survey)
Research question or hypothesis
Setting and population
Proposed methodology
Timeline
Funder or institution (if applicable)

Output Structure

Research Protocol: [Study Title]

Version: 1.0 | Date: [Date] | PI: [Name, institution]

1. Background and Rationale

What is already known
What the gap in knowledge is
Why this study is needed now

2. Research Objectives

Primary: [One clear answerable question or hypothesis] Secondary: [Additional questions]

3. Study Design

Design: [RCT / cohort / qualitative / mixed methods]
Setting: [Where]
Duration: [Total period and recruitment window]
Rationale: [Why this design fits the question]

4. Participants

Inclusion criteria: [List] Exclusion criteria: [List] Sample size: [n] — Basis: [Power calculation or saturation rationale] Recruitment: [Method and source]

5. Methodology / Intervention

For interventional: intervention description, control, randomisation, blinding For observational/qualitative: data collection methods, tools, data collectors

6. Outcomes / Measures

Primary outcome: [Measure], assessed by [method], at [timepoint] Secondary outcomes: [Measure], [method], [timepoint]

7. Data Management

Storage: [Where and anonymisation method]
Access controls: [Who can access]
Retention: [How long]

8. Analysis Plan

Quantitative: [Statistical test], [missing data handling], [software] Qualitative: [Framework — e.g. Braun & Clarke], [quality assurance]

9. Ethical Considerations

Ethics approval: [Body / reference]
Informed consent: [Process]
Confidentiality: [How maintained]
Risk to participants: [Assessment and mitigation]

10. Dissemination Plan

Target journals: [2-3 relevant]
Conference presentations
Public/patient summary

11. Timeline

Phase	Activities	Start	End
Setup	Ethics, approvals, tool development
Recruitment
Data collection
Analysis
Write-up

Quality Checks

Primary objective is singular and answerable (not compound)
Sample size has a stated basis (power calculation or saturation rationale)
Ethical considerations section is complete
Analysis plan is pre-specified (not "to be determined")
Timeline includes all phases from ethics approval to write-up

Anti-Patterns

Do not write an analysis plan as "to be determined" — the analysis approach must be pre-specified before data collection
Do not skip the ethical considerations section — all research involving human participants requires ethical review
Do not define research questions so broadly that the study cannot answer them within scope and budget
Do not conflate the research question with the hypothesis — state them separately and clearly
Do not omit sample size justification — an underpowered study wastes resources and produces inconclusive results

Example Trigger Phrases

"Write a research protocol for [study]"
"Help me design a study to investigate [question]"
"Write the methodology for my research proposal"

1	---
2	name: research-protocol
3	description: "Write a structured research protocol or study design document. Use when asked to write a research protocol, study protocol, research plan, methodology section, or research proposal. Produces a complete protocol with objectives, methodology, ethical considerations, and analysis plan."
4	---
5
6	# Research Protocol Skill
7
8	Produces structured research protocols for academic, clinical, social science, or market research studies.
9
10	## Required Inputs
11	- Research type (clinical trial / observational / qualitative / systematic review / survey)
12	- Research question or hypothesis
13	- Setting and population
14	- Proposed methodology
15	- Timeline
16	- Funder or institution (if applicable)
17
18	## Output Structure
19
20	---
21
22	# Research Protocol: [Study Title]
23	Version: 1.0 \| Date: [Date] \| PI: [Name, institution]
24
25	---
26
27	### 1. Background and Rationale
28	- What is already known
29	- What the gap in knowledge is
30	- Why this study is needed now
31
32	### 2. Research Objectives
33	Primary: [One clear answerable question or hypothesis]
34	Secondary: [Additional questions]
35
36	### 3. Study Design
37	- Design: [RCT / cohort / qualitative / mixed methods]
38	- Setting: [Where]
39	- Duration: [Total period and recruitment window]
40	- Rationale: [Why this design fits the question]
41
42	### 4. Participants
43
44	Inclusion criteria: [List]
45	Exclusion criteria: [List]
46	Sample size: [n] — Basis: [Power calculation or saturation rationale]
47	Recruitment: [Method and source]
48
49	### 5. Methodology / Intervention
50
51	For interventional: intervention description, control, randomisation, blinding
52	For observational/qualitative: data collection methods, tools, data collectors
53
54	### 6. Outcomes / Measures
55	Primary outcome: [Measure], assessed by [method], at [timepoint]
56	Secondary outcomes: [Measure], [method], [timepoint]
57
58	### 7. Data Management
59	- Storage: [Where and anonymisation method]
60	- Access controls: [Who can access]
61	- Retention: [How long]
62
63	### 8. Analysis Plan
64	Quantitative: [Statistical test], [missing data handling], [software]
65	Qualitative: [Framework — e.g. Braun & Clarke], [quality assurance]
66
67	### 9. Ethical Considerations
68	- Ethics approval: [Body / reference]
69	- Informed consent: [Process]
70	- Confidentiality: [How maintained]
71	- Risk to participants: [Assessment and mitigation]
72
73	### 10. Dissemination Plan
74	- Target journals: [2-3 relevant]
75	- Conference presentations
76	- Public/patient summary
77
78	### 11. Timeline
79
80	\| Phase \| Activities \| Start \| End \|
81	\|---\|---\|---\|---\|
82	\| Setup \| Ethics, approvals, tool development \| \| \|
83	\| Recruitment \| \| \| \|
84	\| Data collection \| \| \| \|
85	\| Analysis \| \| \| \|
86	\| Write-up \| \| \| \|
87
88	## Quality Checks
89	- [ ] Primary objective is singular and answerable (not compound)
90	- [ ] Sample size has a stated basis (power calculation or saturation rationale)
91	- [ ] Ethical considerations section is complete
92	- [ ] Analysis plan is pre-specified (not "to be determined")
93	- [ ] Timeline includes all phases from ethics approval to write-up
94
95	## Anti-Patterns
96
97	- [ ] Do not write an analysis plan as "to be determined" — the analysis approach must be pre-specified before data collection
98	- [ ] Do not skip the ethical considerations section — all research involving human participants requires ethical review
99	- [ ] Do not define research questions so broadly that the study cannot answer them within scope and budget
100	- [ ] Do not conflate the research question with the hypothesis — state them separately and clearly
101	- [ ] Do not omit sample size justification — an underpowered study wastes resources and produces inconclusive results
102
103	## Example Trigger Phrases
104	- "Write a research protocol for [study]"
105	- "Help me design a study to investigate [question]"
106	- "Write the methodology for my research proposal"
107