The Featured Research Search rendering is a search exclusive rendering that renders a single featured resource pulled directly from Sitecore Search. 
If no datasource is selected it will perform a standard search and only include a category in its search request should this rendering appear on a category detail page as shown on the statement. 

You have the option to attach a datasource which surfaces a configuration template for search to curate the request with fields for category, content type, topics, and experts.
The search is an OR between the facet and an AND between the two such as:

Category IS Your Money OR Perspectives AND Topics IS IRA OR Investment style OR Home Loans AND Expert IS Chris AND Content Types IS Article

When configuring a featured resource search, you must provide a content type, or you may get content that is not derived from a resource. This is a required field on the template.

The Featured Resource Searches on the page are as follows:

1. Article-topic-search - content type article, topic selected
2. Calculator-search - brings back the most recent calculator published
3. Experts-Search - brings back the most recent article, video or calculator the expert has been tagged on
4. Video-Search - brings back the most recent video resource