Research Harness Audit

Perform a read-only audit of raw data files. No data file is modified. The only output is a structured audit report and a log.

This skill runs after /research-harness-setup and before /research-harness-clean.

Quick Reference

Pre-flight Checks

Before starting:

1. Read study_spec.md. If it does not exist, stop and tell the user to run /research-harness-setup first.
2. Confirm the raw data path in study_spec.md §3 exists. If it does not, report the missing path and stop.
3. Write the audit log header to logs/audit_YYYYMMDD.log.

Procedure

Step 1 — File inventory

For each file under data/raw/ (or the file specified by --file):

• Record: file name, file size, format (CSV, DTA, XLSX, parquet, etc.), encoding if detectable
• Record: row count (excluding header), column count
• Do not load entire files into memory if they are large — use shell commands (wc -l, head, column-sniffing) where possible

Log each file to logs/audit_YYYYMMDD.log.

Step 2 — Variable inventory

For each file, record:

Use the actual variable names from the file headers. Do not rename or interpret variable names — record them as-is. If a variable name is ambiguous, note it in the audit report under §6 Open Issues; do not infer its meaning from the name alone.

Step 3 — ID consistency check

For each file:

• Identify candidate ID variables (variables whose name suggests an identifier: e.g., id, hhid, person_id, pid, any variable ending in _id or _code)
• Check whether the candidate ID is unique within the file
• If multiple files share a candidate ID variable, check whether the ID values overlap

Do not assume that two variables with similar names are the same ID. Report the candidate match and leave it as unknown if not confirmed by the data dictionary.

Step 4 — Time variable check

Identify candidate time variables (e.g., year, wave, date, month). For each:

• Record the range of values
• Record the format (numeric year, string date, etc.)
• Flag any irregularities (gaps in panel, mixed formats)

Step 5 — Missingness patterns

• Identify any variable missing more than 50% of observations — flag as high missingness
• Identify any variables missing in a pattern correlated with other variables (e.g., income missing only for certain regions) — note but do not diagnose the mechanism
• Do not impute or infer missing values

Step 6 — Duplicate check

For each file:

• Count fully duplicate rows
• Count rows with duplicate ID values (if ID was identified in Step 3)
• Report which ID variables have duplicates and how many

Step 7 — Unit and coding check

• For numeric variables representing money, quantities, percentages, or geographic codes: note the apparent unit
• Flag any variables where values suggest a unit mismatch (e.g., income values of 500 mixed with 500000)
• Flag any variables with unusual coding (e.g., -9, 99, 9999 as apparent missing codes)
• Flag any date variables not in ISO 8601 format

Step 8 — Merge key candidates

List pairs of files that appear to share a common ID variable. For each pair:

• Name the shared variable
• Report value overlap percentage
• Mark as likely merge key, possible merge key, or unclear

Do not perform any merge in this step.

Step 9 — Feasibility assessment

Compare the raw data to study_spec.md:

• Can the outcome variable be constructed from the available variables?
• Can the treatment/exposure variable be constructed?
• Can the sample restrictions be applied?
• Is the expected sample size achievable?

Record each check as feasible, partially feasible, or infeasible with a one-line reason.

Infeasibility gate: If any required element is infeasible, the overall assessment is infeasible. Tell the user what is missing and that study_spec.md must be revised before cleaning can begin. Do not proceed to cleaning with an infeasible design.

Step 10 — Write audit report

Copy templates/data_audit_report.md to reports/data_audit_report.md and fill in all sections from Steps 1–9.

Save logs/audit_YYYYMMDD.log.

Forbidden Actions

• Do not modify any file under data/raw/
• Do not clean, reshape, or recode variables
• Do not run econometric models
• Do not infer the meaning of a variable from its name alone if the data dictionary does not confirm it
• Do not mark the audit as complete if required files are missing

Evidence Requirements

• reports/data_audit_report.md exists and all sections are populated
• logs/audit_YYYYMMDD.log exists
• No files in data/raw/ were modified (verify with git status data/raw/ or file-size check)

Completion Criteria

• All files in scope were inspected
• Variable inventory is complete
• ID consistency check is documented
• Missingness summary is present
• Feasibility assessment is present with explicit feasible / infeasible verdict
• reports/data_audit_report.md exists
• logs/audit_YYYYMMDD.log exists
• No raw data was modified

Handoff to Stage 3

Tell the user:

Audit complete. Review reports/data_audit_report.md.

If the feasibility verdict is infeasible: revise study_spec.md before continuing.

If feasible or partially feasible: fill in templates/data_cleaning_plan.md, save it as reports/data_cleaning_plan.md, review it, then run /research-harness-clean.