What do speed and research do exactly?

[Mr Critterfur]

Does speed affect all aspects? Or just programming and building?

And does research mean you gain more research points when you get them, or do you research faster?

Because I've found early in the game, RP is my limiting factor, and makes it a little difficult, especially when trying to train newbs.

[Mr. Rain]

RP stat allows each individual to produce more RP during development and contracts.

Speed helps with overall point-making. However, if your dev has low design/tech stats, he'll still scratch his head, have a lower point-throughput and probably cause more bugs.

My general play-style, I tend to fire and hire better devs. So I only have to worry about training Speed and Research more than anything else.