The number of research points you gain per day is determined by the agent's effective quality (i.e. agent quality modified by your standings and social skills), the agent's skill level and your own skill level in the chosen field of research.

RP/day = (Agent skill level + player skill level)\xb2 x 20

RP/day is doubled for weapon-related research fields and trippled for starship engineering research.

Effective Quality = (Agent Base Quality) + (negotiation skill level) * 5 + (effective agent->char standing)

connections -> raises standings by 0.4 * (10-standing) per level of the skill
negotiations -> raises Effective Quality by 5 per level of the skill