Another set of examples can be provided with reference to the social sciences, humanities and the arts where, as discussed above, the blurring of boundaries could affect the distinction between basic and applied research. Examples of experimental development in these domains can also be difficult to identify, because of the role played by other domains in the natural sciences and engineering. It should be noted that these examples must also meet the basic criteria identified in this chapter to be considered R&D.
In economics and business:
● Basic research: A review of theories on the factors determining regional disparities in economic growth. Economists conducting abstract research in economic theory that focuses on whether a natural equilibrium exists in a market economy. The development of new risk theories.
● Applied research: The analysis of a specific regional case for the purpose of developing government policies. Economists investigating the properties of an auction mechanism that could be relevant to auctioning the telecommunications spectrum. The investigation of new types of insurance contracts to cover new market risks or new types of savings instruments.
● Experimental development: The development of operational models, based upon statistical evidence, to design economic policy tools to allow a region to catch up in terms of growth. The development by a national telecommunications authority of a method for auctioning the telecommunications spectrum. The development of a new method to manage an investment fund is experimental development as long as there is sufficient evidence of novelty.
In education:
● Basic research: Analysis of the environmental determinants of learning ability. The investigation by researchers of the effect of different types of manipulatives on the way first graders learn mathematical strategy by changing manipulatives and then measuring what students have learned through standardised instruments.
● Applied research: The comparative evaluation of national education programmes aimed at reducing the learning gap experienced by disadvantaged communities. The study by researchers of the implementation of a specific math curriculum to determine what
teachers needed to know to implement the curriculum successfully.
● Experimental development: The development of tests for selecting which educational programme should be used for children with specific needs. The development and testing (in a classroom) of software and support tools, based on fieldwork, to improve mathematics cognition for student special education.
In social and economic geography:
● Basic research: Researchers seek to understand the fundamental dynamics of spatial interactions.
● Applied research: A research study analyses the spatial-temporal patterns in the transmission and diffusion of an infectious disease outbreak.
In history:
● Basic research: Historians study the history and human impact of glacial outburst floods in a country.
● Applied research: Historians examine past societies’ responses to catastrophic natural events (e.g. floods, droughts, epidemics) in order to understand how contemporary society might better respond to global climate change.
● Experimental development: Using previous research findings, historians design a new museum exhibit on the adaptations of past human societies to environmental changes; this serves as a prototype for other museums and educational installations.
In language/linguistics:
● Basic research: Linguists study how different languages interact as they come into contact with one another.
● Applied research: Speech therapists examine the governing neurology of languages and how humans acquire language skills.
● Experimental development: Linguists develop a tool for diagnosing autism in children based on their language acquisition, retention and use of signs.
In music:
● Basic research: Researchers develop a transformational theory that provides a framework for understanding musical events not as a collection of objects that have particular relationships to each other but as a series of transformational operations applied to the basic material of the work.
● Applied research: Researchers use historical records and the techniques of experimental archaeology to recreate an ancient and long-disappeared musical instrument and to determine how it would have been constructed, how it was played and the types of sounds it would have produced.
● Experimental development: Music educators and theorists work to produce new pedagogical materials based on new discoveries in neuroscience that change our understanding of how humans process new sounds and information.
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