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SIGNATURE JOSEPH VAN DAKE
TITLE ASSISTANT TREASURER
<PAGE>
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
To the Board of Directors
Lord Abbett Research Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Lord Abbett
Research Fund, Inc. (the "Company") (including the Small-Cap Series, Large-Cap
Series, and Growth Opportunities Fund) for the year ended November 30, 1998 (on
which we have issued our reports dated January 8, 1999), we considered its
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding securities, in
order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on the Company's internal control.
The management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by
management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the
entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes that
are fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control, misstatements due to
errors or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods are subject to the risk that
the internal control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or
that the degree of compliance with policies and procedures may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the Company's internal control would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control that might be material weaknesses
under standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the design or operation
of one or more of the internal control components does not reduce to a
relatively low level the risk that misstatements caused by error or fraud in
amounts that would be material in relation to the financial statements being
audited may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the
normal course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no
matters involving the Company's internal control and its operation, including
controls for safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses
as defined above as of November 30, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Directors of Lord Abbett Research Fund, Inc., and the Securities and
Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone
other than these specified parties.
January 8, 1999
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