The Research Navigation Framework (RNF) is an interrogation protocol for reading and internalizing research from outside traditional academic pathways. It is built on a single governing standard — Assumption Discipline — and organized into nine operational layers applied in sequence: Core Question, Initial Assumptions, Core Variables, Probes, Intellectual Trajectory, Conclusions, Failure Modes, Survivors, and Translation Layer. The RNF treats trajectories as the unit of intellectual transfer rather than conclusions. Its formal grounding is the g(x,t) principle: every thinker and every paper is a path through configuration space, where x is the position in idea-space and t is time. A conclusion is a coordinate; the trajectory is the map. The nine-layer protocol reconstructs that trajectory, making another thinker's reasoning process replicable, extendable, and connectable. The RNF also functions as a transparency instrument, replacing the credentialing shortcut of institutional affiliation with a fully exposed reasoning process that can be critiqued and applied by anyone. It serves as the structural backbone of Resonance Trajectory Papers — companion documents to every major Resonance Report that answer not where the work landed but how it got there. Part of the Resonance Coherent Systems Epistemic Infrastructure Series.