Use case · Research & science

A research model that keeps its evidence in view.

Research does not have one canonical workflow. Grid's role is to keep sources, transformations, methods, results, narrative, and review state connected—while specialist tools, institutional controls, and scholarly judgment remain explicit. The result is a computational medium for the work between raw evidence and a reviewable claim.

Research brief · September 2026

Make the work behind the finding inspectable.

A practical case for explicit assumptions, inspectable analysis, and repeatable computation. Explore the methodological research, Grid’s academic feature set, and worked examples of uncertainty, experiment comparisons, and preserved results.

Covers the conditions for repeatability, Grid Pro research workflows, and clearly identified proposals for extending them.

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01 · One native path

Exact work, as source.

analysis.gridgrid
symbol x
poly = A1*x^2 + 1

# exact, not floating-point-lucky
derivative_result = SYMBOLIC.D(poly, x)
slope = derivative_result.expression
roots_result = SYMBOLIC.SOLVE(poly == 0, x)
decision_result = SYMBOLIC.DECIDE(x^2 >= 0)

# numerics beside the algebra
traj = ODE_SOLVE(LAMBDA(t, y, -0.5*y), 1, 0, 10, 101)

Exact mathematics is one native research path, not the whole research story. Here, A1 is a reactive input and assumptions gate rewrites: x/x only carries a nonzero condition until x ≠ 0 is supported.

03 · Six research paths

Different evidence. One reviewable medium.

Each path starts from the workflow researchers actually have, defines a bounded role for Grid, preserves the right authorities, and names what Grid does not yet claim.

01Workflow family

Experimental and quantitative research

Keep observations, cleaning decisions, models, figures, and claims in one inspectable dependency chain without displacing the systems that acquired or govern the data.

  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Psychology
  • Economics
  • Kinesiology
  • Communication
Typical current stack
Instrument exports or survey platforms → ELN/LIMS or secure storage → R, Python, Stata, or a notebook → figures and manuscript.
Where Grid can fit
Typed formulas, relational transformations, reactive dependencies, and evidence relations can connect approved inputs, analysis outputs, tables, figures, and the claims that depend on them.

Artifact chain

  1. Protocol
  2. Frozen observations
  3. Cleaning + QA
  4. Analysis model
  5. Tables + figures
  6. Claims
  7. Review package
Authority retained
Acquisition instruments, ELN/LIMS, approved source repositories, validated statistical packages, and the publication or archival repository remain systems of record.

Review boundary

Researchers and reviewers still own study design, exclusions, stopping rules, model choice, uncertainty, and interpretation. Grid can expose those decisions; it cannot certify that they are scientifically warranted.

Capability evidence

Documented primitives

Current public docs cover typed formulas, relational transformations, statistical functions, reactive dependencies, and queryable explanation paths.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: validated instrument and LIMS adapters, preregistered-analysis locking, discipline-specific method packs, and publication-grade figure/report workflows.

02Workflow family

Simulation, engineering, and optimization

Make assumptions, units, calibrated parameters, scenarios, solves, and decision rationale travel together while specialist engines keep doing the physics they are trusted to do.

  • Aerospace engineering
  • Civil engineering
  • Operations research
  • Geosciences
  • Physics
  • Planning
Typical current stack
MATLAB or Python → CAD/CAE and domain simulators → solver scripts → CSV handoffs → sensitivity workbook → design or policy report.
Where Grid can fit
Grid can act as the scenario and decision layer: unit-checked inputs, bounded resident simulation, optimization, calibration, sensitivity, and recorded run identities in the same model.

Artifact chain

  1. Requirements
  2. Equations + units
  3. Calibration
  4. Scenario matrix
  5. Simulation + solve
  6. Sensitivity
  7. Decision package
Authority retained
Validated CAE and domain simulators, solver binaries, calibration datasets, configuration control, and safety-case or design-record systems remain authoritative.

Review boundary

Domain experts must validate equations, boundary conditions, meshes, convergence, solver settings, feasibility, and safety margins. A replayable run is evidence of what ran, not proof that the model is valid.

Capability evidence

Documented primitives

The public simulation surface records stable run IDs and result digests and documents parameter matrices, calibration, seeded Monte Carlo, ODE/PDE functions, LP primitives, and MIP in solver-enabled builds.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: production co-simulation adapters, complete solver-version and setting capture, discipline benchmark suites, and certification-ready templates.

03Workflow family

Mixed-methods and human-subject research

Join quantitative results and coded qualitative evidence at an approved level of detail while keeping consent, access, and release authority outside the analytical model.

  • Education
  • Clinical psychology
  • Public health
  • Sociology
  • Social work
  • Linguistics
Typical current stack
IRB and consent records → REDCap or Qualtrics → controlled storage → R, Stata, or SPSS plus NVivo or Dedoose → manuscript.
Where Grid can fit
Over already de-identified, approved inputs, relational analysis and explicit predicates can make declared transformations, review state, quantitative outputs, coded themes, and triangulated claims inspectable.

Artifact chain

  1. Approved protocol
  2. Consented collection
  3. External de-identification
  4. Quant + qual analysis
  5. Triangulation
  6. Disclosure review
  7. Release
Authority retained
The IRB protocol, consent and withdrawal system, identity provider, secure source repository, and qualitative source system remain authoritative for permission and access.

Review boundary

Grid must not infer consent, secondary-use permission, re-identification risk, or disclosure safety. Those decisions belong to participants, investigators, and institutional governance processes.

Capability evidence

Composable primitives

Typed predicates can represent explicit review facts and evidence paths, while relational and statistical primitives can support approved analysis. Grid can only evaluate facts explicitly supplied; it does not establish permission or consent.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: consent and withdrawal propagation, field- and row-level research policy enforcement, privacy-preserving release checks, and governed REDCap/qualitative-tool connectors.

04Workflow family

Qualitative coding and participatory research

Turn the path from source material to code, memo, theme, counterexample, participant review, and claim into a visible source-to-claim chain—not an opaque AI summary.

  • Anthropology
  • Ethnography
  • Communication studies
  • Education
  • Sociology
  • Community research
Typical current stack
Recordings and field notes → transcripts → NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, or Dedoose → memo documents → codebook spreadsheets → collaborative review.
Where Grid can fit
Structured predicates and graph relations can support an analytic matrix linking coded excerpts, codebook versions, memos, themes, negative cases, review state, and supported claims.

Artifact chain

  1. Source record
  2. Transcript + context
  3. Versioned codebook
  4. Coded excerpts
  5. Memos + negative cases
  6. Participant review
  7. Claim appendix
Authority retained
Master recordings and transcripts, consent or community agreements, controlled qualitative repositories, and participant or researcher interpretations remain authoritative.

Review boundary

AI-proposed codes or summaries must remain suggestions. People decide what a code means, whether a theme is warranted, how positionality affects interpretation, and whether member review or community authority changes a conclusion.

Capability evidence

Composable primitives

Structured many-valued predicates, reactive relation graphs, and WHY paths provide useful primitives for code-to-claim traceability; they are not yet a complete qualitative analysis environment.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: span-level audio/video annotation, codebook branching and reconciliation, redaction tooling, participant-controlled review, and standard qualitative exports.

05Workflow family

Humanities, archives, editions, and media

Keep catalog records, surrogates, transcriptions, encodings, variants, transformations, annotations, and interpretive claims connected without flattening them into a dataset.

  • History
  • Literature
  • Classics
  • Art history
  • Religious studies
  • Media studies
Typical current stack
Archive or catalog → IIIF images and OCR/HTR → TEI/XML or annotations → scripts, GIS, and reference manager → edition, article, or exhibit.
Where Grid can fit
Custom grammars, structured predicates, and graphs can underpin a research ledger joining identifiers, source passages, editorial states, variants, transformations, networks, chronologies, and claims.

Artifact chain

  1. Catalogued object
  2. Image or surrogate
  3. Transcription/OCR
  4. Encoded text
  5. Variants + annotations
  6. Analysis + claim
  7. Edition or exhibit
Authority retained
Archive catalogs and persistent identifiers, source surrogates, rights records, authoritative transcriptions, editorial policy, and preservation or publishing repositories remain authoritative.

Review boundary

Scholars, archives, and source communities retain authority over provenance, authenticity, attribution, culturally sensitive access, editorial emendation, and interpretation.

Capability evidence

Composable primitives

Public docs establish custom grammars and parsers, typed predicates, graph traversal, and dependency explanations—the substrate for an edition, not a finished scholarly-edition product.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: IIIF, TEI, METS/MODS, and citation-manager adapters; facsimile/text synchronization; critical-apparatus UI; rights policy; and preservation-grade export.

06Workflow family

Field, spatial, ecological, and observational research

Carry sampling design, raw observations, calibration and QA, coordinates, time, specimens, spatial derivations, models, maps, and claims as one reviewable chain.

  • Ecology
  • Geography
  • Geology
  • Archaeology
  • Urban planning
  • Environmental engineering
Typical current stack
Field forms, sensors, GPS, or specimens → collections database and file store → QGIS or ArcGIS → R/Python and remote-sensing tools → maps and paper.
Where Grid can fit
The field-to-claim model: sampling units, typed observations, calibration and QA flags, coordinate/time normalization, spatial joins, trajectories, scenarios, outputs, and rationale.

Artifact chain

  1. Sampling design
  2. Raw field record
  3. Calibration + QA
  4. Spatial derivation
  5. Model or scenario
  6. Map + table + claim
  7. Archive handoff
Authority retained
Raw device files, specimen and collections records, trusted CRS/projection libraries, permits, chain-of-custody records, and archival repositories remain authoritative.

Review boundary

Experts must assess sampling validity, taxonomy, calibration, coordinate reference systems, detection bias, missingness, ground truth, permit constraints, and protection of sensitive locations.

Capability evidence

Documented primitives

The public function catalog includes CRS-preserving geometry, reprojection, spatial joins, H3 aggregation, routing, and trajectory operations; simulation also documents spatial-agent playback.

Not claimed · product gap

Not yet established publicly: offline field capture and conflict-safe sync, raster/vector workflow breadth, sensor and specimen connectors, calibration provenance, and sensitive-location masking.

Broad substrate. Bounded claims.

Grid's public documentation establishes a broad language and runtime substrate: symbolic values, scientific and statistical functions, simulation, optimization, geospatial operations, grammars, graphs, and explainable predicates. It does not yet establish equivalent maturity across every research method. The six paths above make that boundary—and the next product work—visible.

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