Integrating Research into Television Production: Square One TV and the case of “Pauline”

Within the field of formative research, there is debate as to whether researchers should collaborate with producers or serve as independent evaluators. The Children's Television Workshop (CTW) produces educational programs through a collaborative process of development that has come to be known as the “CTW Model”. Under the CTW Model, producers, content specialists, and researchers work together throughout the life of a project, from its initial conceptualization through its final production. This paper illustrates the value of the CTW Model via an in‐depth case study of the development and production of a single repeated format within Square One TV, an educational television series about mathematics. In particular, we focus on the multifaceted role played by formative research at all stages of production.