Methodology

Status:	Draft
Sensitivity review:	Completed
Purpose:	Summarise the approved five-phase research method.

The project uses a decision-focused methodology. It prioritises relevance, practicality, evidence quality and decision usefulness over academic completeness.

Research Phases

Phase	Purpose	Current status
1. Scoping	Define the questions, scope, methodology, assumptions and information gaps.	Complete
2. Secondary Research	Collect and classify evidence from government, academic and industry sources.	Underway
3. Primary Research	Collect evidence through grower, processor, buyer, exporter and expert interviews.	Not commenced
4. Strategic Analysis	Apply PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT and synthesis.	Interim Phase 2 analysis only
5. Business Case	Prepare the executive summary, findings, risks, opportunities and recommendations.	Not commenced

Evidence Approach

Principle	Practical meaning
Evidence before opinion	Prefer measured data, published research, government statistics, market evidence and transaction evidence.
Challenge assumptions	Do not assume hemp is viable, sustainable, profitable, beneficial or unsuitable.
Compare against alternatives	Environmental and economic claims must be tested against realistic regional land uses.
Identify trade-offs	Record benefits, costs, risks, limitations and uncertainties for major claims.
Keep decisions in view	Prioritise evidence that helps answer the business case questions.

Evidence Register Requirements

All significant claims should be traceable to evidence and classified by:

Field	Why it is recorded
Source type and publication date	To understand credibility and currency.
Geography	To distinguish local, comparable and background evidence.
Product category	To avoid treating hemp as one market or one production system.
Relevance	To show which decision question the evidence supports.
Evidence strength and confidence	To separate strong findings from uncertain or preliminary claims.
Follow-up required	To identify what must be checked through later secondary or primary research.

Current Status

Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2 is approved and underway. Primary research and final business-case conclusions have not commenced.