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This section details the type of research definitions that were used in the All sectors, Business, Government and Higher education sections of the report.
Business and Government sectors
The Business and Government sector questionnaire asked for R&D expenditure to be categorised into the following R&D types (basic research, strategic research, applied research, experimental development), with the following definitions provided:
1. Underpinning research
- Basic research
- Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge without a specific application.
- Work carried out without looking for long term economic or social benefits other than the advancement of knowledge.
- Humanities R&D would normally involve this type of research.
- Strategic research
- Research directed into specific broad areas in expectation of useful discoveries or applications.
- Research providing the broad base of knowledge necessary for the solution of recognised practical problems.
2. Applied research
- To acquire new knowledge with a specific application in view.
- To determine the possible uses for the findings of basic research.
- To determine new methods or ways of achieving some specific predetermined objectives.
3. Experimental development
- Systematic work using existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience for the purpose of creating new or improved materials, products, processes or services.
Note the title ‘underpinning research’ used in the questionnaire stands for basic or fundamental research, with its two sub-categories pure basic (referred to as basic research in the questionnaire), and strategic research. In the Business and Government sections of the report, data collected in the basic research category above is labelled pure-basic research.
The wording of these definitions is the result of cognitive testing the definitions provided in the Frascati Manual, OECD, 2002 (Chapter 4); and the Glossary of Terms for Scientific and Technological Activities in New Zealand; Ministry of Research, Science & Technology, July 1991. The extracts section below details the relevant references from these publications that were used to compile these definitions.
Universities sector
Types of R&D expenditure were not directly captured in the universities component of the R&D Survey. They were derived by applying type of research weightings provided to Statistics New Zealand by the NZVCC.
Weightings for three types of research were provided: pure-basic research, oriented-basic research, and applied research and experimental development combined. These types of research were based on the Frascati 2002 definitions (detailed below in the extracts section). In the universities section of the report oriented basic research has been labelled strategic research.
All sectors
Three types of research have been provided in the All sectors section of the report: pure basic research, strategic research, and applied research and experimental development combined. These were compiled from the Government, Business and Universities sector types of research breakdowns detailed above.
Extracts
Paragraphs 240 - 250 of the Frascati Manual, OECD, 2002 provides definitions for types of research:
Basic research
- Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.
- Basic research analyses properties, structures and relationships with a view to formulating and testing hypotheses, theories or laws. The reference to no “particular application in view” in the definition of basic research is crucial, as the performer may not know about the actual applications when doing the research or responding to survey questionnaires. The results of basic research are not generally sold but are usually published in scientific journals or circulated to interested colleagues. Occasionally, basic research may be “classified” for security reasons.
- In basic research, scientists have some freedom to set their own goals. Such research is usually performed in the higher education sector but also to some extent in the government sector. Basic research can be oriented or directed towards some broad fields of general interest, with the explicit goal of a broad range of applications in the future. One example is the public research programmes on nanotechnology which several countries have decided on. Firms in the private sector may also undertake basic research, with a view to preparing for the next generation of technology. Research on fuel cell technology is a case in point. Such research is basic according to the above definition as it does not have a particular use in view. It is defined in the Frascati Manual as “oriented basic research”.
- Oriented basic research may be distinguished from pure basic research as follows:
- Pure basic research is carried out for the advancement of knowledge, without seeking long-term economic or social benefits or making any effort to apply the results to practical problems or to transfer the results to sectors responsible for their application.
- Oriented basic research is carried out with the expectation that it will produce a broad base of knowledge likely to form the basis of the solution to recognised or expected, current or future problems or possibilities.
- The separate identification of oriented basic research may provide some assistance towards identifying “strategic research”, a broad notion often referred to in policy making.
Applied research
- Applied research is also original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective.
- Applied research is undertaken either to determine possible uses for the findings of basic research or to determine new methods or ways of achieving specific and predetermined objectives. It involves considering the available knowledge and its extension in order to solve particular problems. In the business enterprise sector, the distinction between basic and applied research is often marked by the creation of a new project to explore promising results of a basic research programme.
- The results of applied research are intended primarily to be valid for a single or limited number of products, operations, methods or systems. Applied research gives operational form to ideas. The knowledge or information derived from it is often patented but may be kept secret.
- It is recognised that an element of applied research can be described as strategic research, but the lack of an agreed approach in member countries to its separate identification prevents making a recommendation.
Experimental development
- Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, that is directed to producing new materials, products and devices; to installing new processes, systems and services; or to improving substantially those already produced or installed.
- In the social sciences, experimental development may be defined as the process of translating knowledge gained though research into operational programmes, including demonstration projects undertaken for testing and evaluation purposes. The category has little or no meaning for the humanities.
Strategic research
Page 26 of the Glossary of Terms For Scientific and Technological Activities in New Zealand; Ministry of Research, Science and Technology; July 1991, provides a definition for strategic research:
Research activities conducted to support long-term “national needs” and directed into specific broad areas in expectation of useful discoveries, or providing the broad knowledge base necessary for solution of recognised practical problems.
Appendix A: Technical documentation
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