Qualitative aspects of the evaluation and control of research and development projects

Decisions in research and development are usually based on a variety of data inputs. Some of these will be concerned with the returns offered by projects in money terms. Others will relate to more qualitative aspects of research work such as, perhaps, the establishment of a base in a new area of technology or the achievement of a stronger market position. This paper describes and illustrates how checklists may be used to assemble qualitative data for purposes of decision. These were formulated in an industrial R & D laboratory and the illustrative examples in the text make reference to real projects. The checklists described are an integral part of a comprehensive system of project evaluation and control in R & D which includes an analysis of the financial implications using net present value or discounted cash flow rate of return of the project risk, analysis and sensitivity tests. The detail of this part of the scheme is conventional and is therefore omitted from the paper.