Quote Originally Posted by JoshuaZ View Post
(There's a secondary minor issue with this being the Star Wars universe which is that is a universe where the tech level seems to be nearly 100% stagnant except for better weapons. This is never really explained.)
This was explained in various ways in the Legends canon (though the OP is using the Disney canon). Notably that many essential technologic principles did not originate with the current humanoid spacer culture that dominates the galaxy but with the pre-Republic Rakata civilization and the Republic was never able to really advance beyond them in a consistent fashion in large part because they were reverse engineered from Force-based methods.

To the OP, a useful framing question is: who are you working for? Very few scientists are truly freelance. In the Outer Rim few will have academic backing - due to the general lack of universities - so corporate sponsorship is most likely. Most Outer Rim Corporations are interested in resource extraction - the Outer Rim is a colonial frontier after all - so the focus of research is probably related to that in some fashion.

Also, its useful to consider party role. In Star Wars games a 'scientist' character most commonly fills the role of party medic. If this is the case, then your character is most likely researching something biology related, such as adapting non-native lifeforms to new plants for use in colonization or researching emergent diseases in colonial populations - plague was a significant feature of the Legends continuity.