Interpretive Orchestration
Epistemic partnership infrastructure for AI-assisted qualitative research. Claude Code plugin with 3-stage methodology, 4 specialized agents, and 11 skills.
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Interpretive Orchestration: Epistemic Partnership System
Not a tool for faster coding. A partner for deeper thinking.
🚀 Ready to start? → INSTALL.md (complete setup from scratch)
📋 Already set up? → QUICK-START.md (quick reference)
📖 Want depth? → Keep reading below
🧠 Frameworks? → Cognitio Emergens (Lin) | Interpretive Orchestration (Lin & Corley)
🌟 The Transformation
What you might expect: "Software that automates qualitative coding so I can finish faster"
What you'll actually get: "A thinking partner that deepens my reflexivity, challenges my assumptions, and helps me understand how I construct knowledge - making me a better researcher"
The difference matters.
🧠 What Is This Really?
This isn't another CAQDAS tool (NVivo, Atlas.ti, etc.) with AI bolted on. This isn't ChatGPT for ad-hoc document analysis. This isn't Google's AI Co-Scientist for qualitative research.
This is infrastructure for human-AI epistemic partnership in interpretive inquiry.
What That Means
Traditional tools:
- You input data → AI processes → You review output
- AI automates manual labor (the "calculator mindset")
- Faster but not necessarily deeper
- Philosophy implicit and unexamined
Epistemic partnership:
- You build foundation → You + AI collaborate → You synthesize theory
- AI asks questions that deepen YOUR reflexivity
- Scale AND interpretive depth
- Philosophy explicit and reflexive
The goal: Transform how you think about interpretation itself, not just speed up coding.
🎨 The Atelier of Co-Apprenticeship
Both human and AI are apprentices to the craft tradition of interpretive inquiry. Neither masters the other. Both learn from craft principles: rigor, reflexivity, theoretical sensitivity, interpretive depth.
Also known as human-AI-human "sandwich" from our original research.
| Stage | What Happens | AI Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Solo Practice 🎨 | Manual coding of 10-15 docs, memo-writing, framework development | Watches but doesn't intervene (theoretical sensitivity can't be automated) |
| 2. Collaboration 🤝 | Parallel streams (theoretical + empirical), synthesis, pattern characterization | 4-stage visible reasoning with @dialogical-coder |
| 3. Tradition Dialogue 💭 | Examine work through craft tradition's wisdom | @scholarly-companion asks tradition's questions |
The atelier ENFORCES Stage 1 - doors to collaborative workspace stay locked until solo practice complete.
🌊 Partnership Agency (Our Argument)
This plugin instantiates Partnership Agency from Cognitio Emergens (Lin, 2025): "Human and AI boundaries dissolve into unified epistemic system generating insights neither could produce independently."
Four enabling conditions:
- Theoretical Foundation - Stage 1 prevents calculator mindset
- Visible Reasoning - 4-stage process prevents black-box opacity
- Recursive Evolution - Both human and AI learn and adapt
- Epistemic Ambidexterity - Balance AI capability with human control
Our structure isn't constraint - it's architecture for Partnership Agency. We provide ONE rigorous path, grounded in Cognitio Emergens and Gioia/Constructivist tradition.
🎯 Core Principles
| Principle | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Epistemic Coherence | Plugin adapts to YOUR declared philosophy (ontology, epistemology, GT tradition) |
| Reflexivity as Strength | Prompts examine assumptions - awareness, not doubt |
| Human Authority | AI organizes and suggests; YOU interpret and decide (non-negotiable) |
| Visible Reasoning | 4-stage dialogical process shows HOW AI interpreted, not just WHAT |
| Meta-Cognition | Every interaction teaches you to think about thinking |
| Progressive Depth | Philosophy deepens through practice, not front-loaded lectures |
💡 What Makes This Different
| Approach | Their Model | Our Model |
|---|---|---|
| vs CAQDAS | AI bolted onto manual tools | AI embedded with human authority maintained |
| vs ChatGPT | Ad-hoc prompts, no audit trail | Systematic 4-stage dialogical process |
| vs AI Co-Scientist | Full automation (STEM) | Human-centered augmentation (Social Science) |
Unique: First infrastructure treating epistemology as UX design - embeds meta-cognition, enforces sandwich methodology, bundles MCP ecosystem.
🌊 Why This Tool Feels Different
This plugin prioritizes friction over flow. If it stops you, it's asking you to think.
| Trade-off | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Transformation over reliability | Change how you think, not just process faster |
| Dialogue over determinism | Socratic onboarding adapts to YOU |
| Reflection over efficiency | Interpretive pauses are methodology, not bugs |
If something feels "heavy" - that's intentional epistemic friction preventing the "calculator mindset."
🚀 Getting Started
New to Claude Code? See INSTALL.md for complete hand-holding setup instructions (Windows, macOS, Linux).
Want a pre-configured environment? Use the Starter Project - a ready-to-use VS Code workspace with beginner-friendly settings.
Already have Claude Code?
cd your-project-folder
claude
/plugin install linxule/interpretive-orchestration
/qual-check-setup # Verify installation
/qual-init # Begin Socratic onboarding
Then: Complete Stage 1 manual coding (10-15 documents) before AI-assisted analysis. This builds the irreplaceable theoretical sensitivity that makes partnership meaningful.
📚 The MCP Ecosystem
This plugin bundles powerful MCPs as epistemic tools - no API keys required for core functionality!
Bundled (Auto-Install, No Keys Required)
- Sequential Thinking - Dynamic reasoning through structured thought sequences (
/qual-think-through) - Lotus Wisdom - Navigate paradoxes with five wisdom domains (
/qual-wisdom-check) - Markdownify - Convert PDFs, transcribe audio, extract from videos/web (
/qual-import-pdf)
Optional (Require API Keys)
- MinerU - High-accuracy PDF parsing (90%+) for complex tables/figures - requires MINERU_API_KEY
- Zen MCP - Multi-model validation (
/qual-get-perspectives) - requires GOOGLE_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY - Jina - Fetch articles (
/qual-fetch-article) - requires JINA_API_KEY - Exa - Search literature (
/qual-search-literature) - requires EXA_API_KEY - Zotero - Manage bibliography - requires ZOTERO_API_KEY
These aren't utilities - they're tools for epistemic work.
Markdownify is especially powerful for qualitative researchers:
- Transcribe interview audio files directly (no separate transcription service needed!)
- Convert PDF articles and reports
- Extract content from YouTube videos
- Convert web pages and Office documents
🧩 Skills (v0.2.0)
Skills are auto-discoverable capability packages that Claude loads when relevant to your request.
| Skill | Triggers | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
project-setup | "initialize", "new project" | Socratic onboarding + config |
gioia-methodology | "data structure", "Gioia" | Data structure building |
literature-sweep | "literature", "Stream A" | Search + fetch + organize papers |
interview-ingest | "transcribe", "convert audio" | Audio/PDF conversion |
deep-reasoning | "think through", "plan" | Sequential Thinking integration |
paradox-navigation | "tension", "both/and" | Lotus Wisdom integration |
Full list: See CLAUDE.md for all 12 skills and their triggers.
🤖 Agents
| Agent | Stage | Role |
|---|---|---|
@stage1-listener | 1 | Thinking partner - asks questions, never suggests codes |
@dialogical-coder | 2 | 4-stage visible reasoning for reflexive coding |
@research-configurator | 2 | "The Whisperer" - technical setup without jargon |
@scholarly-companion | 3 | Asks tradition's questions about theoretical significance |
@research-configurator: The Whisperer
This agent bridges research goals and technical implementation for non-coding researchers. 12 capabilities:
- Analysis Strategy Design - Sampling, checkpoints, framework maturity
- Model Selection - Opus vs Sonnet vs Gemini based on YOUR needs
- Thinking Budget Configuration - How deeply AI reasons (cost/quality trade-off)
- Batch Processing Strategy - Sequential vs batch vs parallel
- Cost Estimation - Transparent per-item and total costs
- API Setup - Guided step-by-step (no coding required)
- Quality Assessment - Translates metrics to research signals
- Human Review Orchestration - When to pause, what to examine
- Troubleshooting Translation - Technical errors → methodological insights
- Saturation Monitoring - Tracks new concepts over time
- Multi-Strategy Exploration - Compare different analytical approaches
- Framework Evolution - Evidence-based refinement suggestions
Invoke: @research-configurator Help me set up my analysis
🔒 Methodology Hooks
The plugin enforces the sandwich methodology through automated hooks:
- PreStage2 - Blocks AI coding until Stage 1 foundation complete
- PostFiveDocuments - Triggers interpretive pause every 5 documents
- EpistemicCoherence - Checks philosophical consistency
If you're blocked, it's asking you to think. That's intentional epistemic friction.
🎓 Pedagogical Approach
| Phase | Focus | AI Role |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation (Week 1) | Socratic onboarding, Stage 1 manual coding | Watches, doesn't intervene |
| Deepening (Week 4) | Stage 2 collaboration with @dialogical-coder | 4-stage visible reasoning |
| Partnership (Week 12) | Stage 3 synthesis, meta-dialogue | Asks tradition's questions |
Philosophy deepens through practice, not front-loaded lectures.
📖 Documentation
| Start Here | Go Deeper |
|---|---|
| INSTALL.md - Complete setup | DESIGN-PHILOSOPHY.md - Why partnership |
| QUICK-START.md - 5-min guide | ARCHITECTURE.md - Technical details |
| TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Issues | CLAUDE.md - Agent behavior |
| UPGRADE-GUIDE.md - v0.1→v0.2 | DEPENDENCIES.md - MCP ecosystem |
🤝 The Partnership Agreement
| AI commits to | You commit to |
|---|---|
| Show reasoning, not just results | Complete Stage 1 foundation |
| Express uncertainty genuinely | Maintain deep data engagement |
| Honor your interpretive authority | Question both AI and your assumptions |
Mutual commitment creates epistemic partnership.
🔬 Methodological Foundation
This plugin implements methodology from our learned practices through multiple research projects.
Key Innovations:
- Parallel discovery streams (theoretical + empirical with mutual checking)
- Dialogical prompting (4-stage visible reasoning prevents shallow coding)
- Interpretive pauses (after every 5 documents, at transitions, for edge cases)
- Pattern characterization (systematic variation analysis, not essentialist discovery)
- Multi-model triangulation (prevents single-AI bias)
- Sandwich architecture (human foundation → collaboration → human synthesis)
Philosophical basis:
- Gioia & Corley systematic interpretivist approach (default)
- Charmaz constructivist reflexivity
- Configurable for other coherent traditions
🌍 For Whom?
Perfect for: Qualitative researchers (GT, phenomenology, narrative analysis) who want scale AND interpretive depth
Not for: Those seeking pure automation or unwilling to engage philosophical foundations
🎬 Quick Demo
/qual-init # Socratic dialogue establishes your philosophy
/qual-status # Shows Stage 1 progress
@dialogical-coder Code R01 # 4-stage reflexive coding after Stage 1 complete
/qual-think-through # Sequential Thinking for deep analysis
/qual-wisdom-check # Lotus Wisdom for paradox navigation
🏗️ What Gets Built
When you /qual-init, the plugin creates:
your-project/
├── .interpretive-orchestration/
│ ├── epistemic-stance.md # YOUR philosophy (human-readable)
│ ├── config.json # Settings (AI-readable)
│ ├── conversation-log.jsonl # AI-to-AI transparency
│ └── reflexivity-journal.md # YOUR growth tracking
│
├── stage1-foundation/ # 🍞 Human bread (top)
├── stage2-collaboration/ # 🤝 Human-AI filling
└── stage3-synthesis/ # 🍞 Human bread (bottom)
The folder structure teaches the methodology.
Note: The plugin is ~90% markdown prompts, ~10% JavaScript hooks. See ARCHITECTURE.md for technical details.
🤔 FAQ
Q: Why can't I skip Stage 1? A: AI cannot develop YOUR theoretical sensitivity. Manual engagement creates the foundation that makes Stage 2 collaboration meaningful.
Q: What if I disagree with the AI? A: Perfect! The AI organizes possibilities; YOU make interpretive judgments. Your authority is non-negotiable.
Q: Is this different from automation? A: Fundamentally. Automation replaces human labor. Partnership augments human thinking through reflexive dialogue.
🌐 Community & Extensions
Built with: Claude Code, MCP ecosystem (Sequential Thinking, Lotus Wisdom, Markdownify), Gioia & Corley methodology
Extend: Fork for your GT tradition, build custom agents, contribute pattern modules. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
📄 Citation
If you use this plugin in your research, please cite:
[Methods paper forthcoming]
Note: The plugin itself IS a research contribution. Using it means engaging with our methodological innovation.
⚖️ License
MIT - Because epistemic infrastructure should be freely available
🙏 Acknowledgments
Theoretical foundations: Cognitio Emergens (Lin, 2025), Interpretive Orchestration (Lin & Corley), Gioia & Corley methodology, Charmaz constructivist reflexivity
Built by: Xule Lin and Kevin Corley (Imperial College London) AI Collaborators: Claude Opus 4.5 (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), Gemini (Google)
This plugin IS Partnership Agency - knowledge co-created through human-AI collaboration.
🚀 Ready to Begin?
/qual-init
Let's think together. 💭