Rabbit Hole

A Rabbit Hole is a research path that leads to increasingly deeper and often unexpected exploration (potentially causing investigation scope creep).

• AKA: Deep Dive, Research Spiral, Investigation Tunnel.
• Context:
  • It can typically begin with Simple Question through initial inquiry.
  • It can typically lead to Unexpected Direction through tangential discovery.
  • It can typically consume Time Resource through continuous exploration.
  • It can typically generate New Questions through recursive investigation.
  • It can typically reveal Hidden Connections through depth exploration.
  • ...
  • It can often result in Knowledge Expansion through serendipitous discovery.
  • It can often trigger Research Deviation through topic branching.
  • It can often challenge Initial Assumptions through perspective shift.
  • It can often provide Unexpected Insights through pattern recognition.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Brief Detour to being an Extended Journey, depending on its exploration depth.
  • It can range from being a Focused Investigation to being a Scattered Exploration, depending on its topic boundary.
  • It can range from being a Productive Discovery to being a Time Sink, depending on its relevance alignment.
  • ...
  • It can impact Research Efficiency through attention diffusion.
  • It can affect Project Timeline through scope expansion.
  • It can influence Research Quality through perspective broadening.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Research Scenarios, such as:
    • Academic Researchs, such as:
      • Literature Review Expansion for citation chain following.
      • Methodology Investigation for research design refinement.
    • Technical Investigations, such as:
      • Bug Root Cause Analysis for system troubleshooting.
      • Dependency Chain Exploration for software analysis.
  • Learning Scenarios, such as:
    • Self-Directed Learnings, such as:
      • Wikipedia Chain Reading for general knowledge expansion.
      • Tutorial Branch Following for skill development.
  • Problem-Solving Scenarios, such as:
    • Diagnostic Processes, such as:
      • System Error Investigation for root cause identification.
      • Performance Analysis for optimization opportunity discovery.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Linear Investigation, which maintains a single direction focus.
  • Structured Research, which follows a predetermined path.
  • Bounded Exploration, which enforces strict scope limits.
• See: Research Path, Investigation Method, Exploration Pattern, Discovery Process.

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