Research ....... no thanks. If you think research is only conducted by old absent-minded professors who look like Einstein with a pipe in the mouth, then think again.

Knowledge management is not just a buzzword used by ETD Practitioners; it includes the possibility to be updated with current trends and best practices at the click of a button.

Long gone are the days where you need to sit in the library for a whole day, searching for information. By conducting a Google search on "ETD research in South Africa", 30 800 articles were retrieved within 0.24 seconds.

Education, Training and Development (ETD) has evolved considerably over the past fifteen years (since 1994).

Internal and external political, economic and social forces have impacted many professions with ETD not being excluded from facing these challenges. Globalisation, the influence of democracy, the information explosion, change and diversity are but a few forces that need to be reckoned within day-to-day decisions.

Thus the changes and clarification of the roles and responsibilities of Skills Development Practitioners, according to the needs of the industry.

The unit standard "conduct elementary field research in education, training and development or occupation" was registered in October 2000.

The registration of this standard emphasised the importance and need for Occupationally-directed ETD Practitioners to have knowledge on how to conduct research.

In an article posted on the Skills Portal, Nthambeleni Gabara stated that South Africa has spent at least R16.5 billion on research and experimental development in the 2006/07 financial year; confirmation that the country is progressing towards a knowledge-based economy.

The survey showed that South Africa is gradually increasing spending on research and development (R&D); a further indication of the country's ability to engage in a knowledge-based economy.

Most R&D in South Africa was performed in the field of the engineering sciences (comprising 20.9 percent of total R&D), followed by the natural sciences (20.3 percent) and the medical and health sciences (15.1 percent).

According to the same survey, "the strengthening of the R&D system through national policies and mechanisms including special support for cooperation across what is termed the "triple helix" of business, government and higher education sectors can only lead to a more competitive international position through R&D based innovation."

The information was critical to South Africa's forward planning particularly in specifying the targets for the Ten-Year Innovation Plan, which aims to help drive South Africa's transformation towards a knowledge-based economy in which the production and dissemination of knowledge leads to economic benefits.

These statistics force one to question what impact Skills Development (or ETD) Practitioners have on R&D and also what value can be added?

ETD Practitioners are often in the position to influence a companies' decisions to invest in the empowerment of their staff to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, to assist them in reaching their potential.

These practitioners experience daily performance challenges in their working environment. Equipped with proper knowledge on how to conduct research, very often solutions can be quickly found to address specific training needs.

Skills Development Practitioners need to keep abreast of the vast amounts of information available so to stay ahead. Information shelf life is getting shorter and shorter. What we know today may be obsolete within a year, or two.

Research entails much more than retrieving information and writing a report. When following a proper research procedure, information collected will assist in justifying decisions and proposals, add value and emerge solutions to specific problems.

The Institute of People Development realises the value of research in the ETD field and so its' online library is regularly updated with relevant articles, addressing pertinent issues.

The CPD programme for Skills Development Practitioners (NQF 6) includes offering participants the opportunity to achieve a unit standard in Research valued at 20 credits; they will be taught how to conduct research while analysing a specific need in their organisation.

Will ETD Practitioners still reason that research is only for academics?