Field Research (Japanese: フィールドリサーチField Research) are small goals that can be completed in Pokémon GO, which were initially introduced by Professor Willow to aid him in his discoveries. Research tasks involve a range of objectives, such as catching Pokémon or battling in Gyms, and reward players with items, Pokémon encounters, or Stardust.
Pokémon obtained from Field Research tasks will have a minimum of 10 IVs in each stat and an initial power up level of 15. Weather bonuses are not applied for these types of encounters. Field Research Pokémon are guaranteed to never flee. If the player runs from the encounter, the Pokémon will be saved into a queue that can be later accessed by a "Claim Reward!" button above the Field Research tasks.
Tasks can be obtained by spinning PokéStops, and a maximum of three active tasks can be held at one time. AR Mapping tasks do not count toward this limit, nor do Bonus tasks – which are awarded daily at midnight – that are sent out after the limit has been reached. A player can choose to discard a task to free up space for another. A single PokéStop will provide the same task for all players for a single day, and the task cannot be obtained again if the task from that PokéStop was completed for the day. A PokéStop that has had its task completed will have a blue Research completion icon on the top-right of the screen when viewed.
Completing a Research task will earn the player a Stamp up to once per day. Once the player has earned seven Stamps, the player will receive a Research Breakthrough, which includes various rewards and an encounter with a special Pokémon.
Separate Field Research tasks have been temporarily available on special events, including during Community Days.
List of Field Research tasks
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The following is a list of all Field Research tasks that have been available to players since January 2021, along with all possible rewards for completing each task. Currently, Field Research tasks are expected to be rotated on the first day every month. The icon denotes Pokémon that have a chance of being Shiny during the reward encounter.
Certain events have had their own set of Field Research tasks that players may obtain during the event period. After the event period has ended, PokéStops that have event-exclusive tasks will switch back to standard tasks. After an event is over, players that have unfinished event-exclusive tasks may still complete them; however, tasks that would have rewarded event-exclusive forms (e.g. Pikachu wearing a flower crown or Spinda with a heart pattern) may reward their standard forms instead, and vice-versa.
Research Breakthrough
Reward box for Research Breakthrough
Collecting seven Field Research stamps awards players with a Research Breakthrough that includes an encounter with a special Pokémon, which rotates every month. The Pokémon encountered has either been exclusive rare Pokémon or Legendary Pokémon that were previously available in raids. The icon denotes Pokémon that can possibly be encountered as Shiny from a Research Breakthrough.
Along with the Pokémon encounter, players are also rewarded the following:
Click [show] to see Research Breakthrough Pokémon from 2022.
Availability
Pokémon encounter
Notes
January 2022
Originally, this Research Breakthrough would reward the player Steelix Mega Energy. Due to an unforeseen issue, Niantic had to put 200 Mega Energy in a month-long Timed Research instead.[1]
In Advice to Goh!, a concept similar to Field Research was introduced in the form of Project Mew's Trial Missions, which a Trainer hoping to join the research team must complete in order to earn tokens and qualify for the team.
Trivia
Encountering either Vulpix, Poliwag, Hippopotas, or Snover as potential rewards for the "Catch 5 Pokémon with Weather Boost" research task could be a reference to how Vulpix and Ninetales' Kantonian Forms have Drought as their shared Hidden Ability, Politoed having Drizzle as its own Hidden Ability, Hippopotas and Hippowdon having Sand Stream, and Snover and Abomasnow having Snow Warning as their shared Ability, with all four examples being Abilities involving the changing of the weather.