I read your thread last night and while I did not respond to it, it did peak my interest.  I know that at this time there is really no guide to creating research, as I had to learn it through trial and error, and that I perhaps could create one for everyone to learn off of.  So, after a day worth of thought into it, I am going to go ahead and write one up, but I will have to wait until entrenchment is out and the 1.5 version of my mod is released before I will be able to gather up the time to work on it.