06 Give it a role and a number

What people usually ask

Give me research ideas on fouling in plate heat exchangers.

What comes back

A summary of what others have done and four student sized projects under headings.

Ask this instead

Act as a principal investigator planning three years of work
on one lab rig: a <plate count and size> exchanger with <fluid>
on the hot side. Give exactly five research questions on
fouling, each written as a question. Under each, two lines:
the experiment on this rig that answers it, and what the
answer would change in practice for someone running such
exchangers. No references yet; I will ask for them once the
questions exist. No summary of the field, no headings.

Attach: Nothing.

Why it works: the role sets the level of the thinking and the number sets where it stops, so the answer is five questions and not a survey.