Phase 4: Research, Analysis & Decision-Making · 45 min · ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini (any) + web search
Objective
What you're building
A documented, step-by-step AI research workflow for a real decision you need to make. This is not an exercise — it's a real research deliverable that produces a real decision, documented well enough that someone else could follow your process.
This is the second artifact in your prompt portfolio.
The process
Step 1: Choose a Real Decision
Pick something you actually need to research and decide:
- Should I switch from [tool A] to [tool B]?
- Which [vendor/service] should I hire for [task]?
- Should I launch [product/feature] now or wait?
- Which [course/certification/program] should I take?
Step 2: Information Gathering (Extraction)
Use targeted extraction prompts to gather information from sources:
- Paste relevant documents, articles, or web pages
- Extract specific fields into structured tables
- Use web-connected AI (Perplexity, ChatGPT with search) for current information
Document your prompts and outputs.
Step 3: Comparison (Structured Matrix)
Build a comparison matrix of your options:
- Define 5-7 specific criteria tied to your situation
- Ask AI to compare options in a table format
- Identify the top tradeoffs
Document the matrix and tradeoffs.
Step 4: Thinking Partner (Stress-Testing)
Use AI as a thinking partner:
- Run a structured pro/con analysis
- Test your assumptions
- Identify blind spots
Document the key insights and assumptions.
Step 5: Verification
Verify the key claims that your decision depends on:
- Which statistics, facts, or claims matter most to your decision?
- Verify each with a web search or original source
- Note which claims were accurate and which needed correction
Document what you verified and what you found.
Step 6: Decision
Make your decision based on the research:
- What did you decide?
- What was the reasoning?
- What would make you reconsider?
Document the decision and reasoning.
Deliverable format
Organize as a single document:
# AI Research Partner Workflow
[Your Name] | [Date]
### Decision Being Researched
[What you're deciding and why it matters]
### Step 1: Information Gathering
### Prompts Used
[The actual prompts you ran]
### Key Findings
[Structured tables and extractions]
### Step 2: Comparison Matrix
[The comparison table and tradeoffs]
### Step 3: Thinking Partner
### Pro/Con Analysis
[The structured analysis]
### Assumption Test
[Key assumptions and their risk levels]
### Blind Spots Identified
[What you were missing]
### Step 4: Verification
### Claims Verified
[Each claim, the source, and whether it was accurate]
### Corrections Made
[Any hallucinations or errors caught]
### Step 5: Decision
### What I Decided
[The decision]
### Reasoning
[Why, based on the research]
### What Would Make Me Reconsider
[The conditions for revisiting]
### Workflow Template
[A clean, reusable version of the prompts you used, so you (or someone else) could run this same process for any future decision]
Why this matters
This project proves you can do more than write good prompts. It proves you can:
- Chain multiple prompting techniques into a workflow
- Use AI for research, not just drafting
- Verify AI output instead of blindly trusting it
- Produce a decision-ready deliverable
In Phase 9, this becomes part of your portfolio. But even now, it's proof — to yourself and anyone else — that you can use AI as a research partner, not just a writing assistant.
Your practice rep (project)
Complete the full workflow for a real decision. Save the document. This is your second portfolio artifact.