| Purpose of the System | ||||
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The purpose of RAPS-China is illustrated in the following diagram: |
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The main purpose of RAPS is to bridge the gap between regional development research and policy. It should facilitate the transfer of research results to politicians, planners, media representatives and the interested public. Moreover, it can be used as an educational tool at the college and university level. The above diagram should be read as follows: |
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All research starts with the identification of a scientific problem. There is no science without a clearly specified research problem. It is important to distinguish practical and scientific problems. Not all practical problems are scientific problems - but some of them can be translated into a form that can be handled by scientists. Most practical problems in regional development have to be dealt with on a day-to-day basis by politicians and planners without the help of regional researchers. | |||
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Scientific problems are processed in a research cycle. This consists of four mayor components: a) the formulation of a research concept, including perhaps a (conceptual, mathematical, or algorithmic) model, one or more hypotheses, and a specified methodology for attacking the problem; b) the acquisition, selection, processing, and preparation of empirical data (from a survey, observation, administrative data, census, etc.); c) a procedure to check the empirical data against the theoretical concept (which is often done by formally testing hypothesis through statistical methods); and finally, d) the publication of results in (peer-reviewed) journals. It is essential that all steps of this research cycle are documented, so that other researchers can check the validity of the procedure. Typically, a research cycle is passed through several times, to fine-adjusts the research concept, methodology, empirical basis, data analysis, or result presentation. Once the results are published, the research process is usually completed and a new research problem is selected. Sometimes, published research results are used for policy advice and teaching but more often very little thought is given to the practical implementation of research results and policy advice. | |||
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In addition to the scientific research cycle another process co-exists for many practical problems in regional development and planning. This circle starts when problems are taken up by mass media or public pressure groups. Typically, political decision makers and planners would try to solve these issues without serious involvement of scientists. For instance, they would initiate certain development programs or introduce legislation to deal with the situation. Government agencies would be responsible for the design and implementation of these programs. This administration-based cycle of regional problem solving often makes little use of scientific insights. | |||
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The RAPS China tool tries to provide a bridge between the scientific research cycle and the administration-based cycle of (regional) problem solving. It is a tool for data mining and explorative analyses. Both regional researchers and planners can use RAPS-China to quickly and easily analyze a large amount of relevant development indicators and demonstrate their ideas on concepts to each other. Since data retrieval is extremely easy, one can use RAPS as a "background" information system on regional development, which can be consulted immediately during planning meetings or political debates. | |||
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| Heilig, G.K. (2004): RAPS-China. A Regional Analysis and Planning System. Laxenburg, Austria | ||||
