I have a really elementary question (with several examples). How much can my actions affect the villagers? For example: If a villager feels weak, can I improve his condition by dragging him to water and food (in addition to a healer)?
Example: Can I influence a researcher (or farmer?) to think about planting in the “rich soil” area by dragging them there few times?
Example: If a villager is walking to the well to gather water for his crops, will quickening his trip by dragging him to the water shorten the time it will take for crops to grow?
I've been experimenting but would appreciate any feedback. Hope I haven’t gotten carried away.

Weak villagers cannot be healed by your doctors. You can have them work at less strenuous tasks (such as research), and make sure there's plenty of food. They should slowly recover their health if conditions in your village are favorable.

You can always retrain a villager in a new task, providing your technology level allows them to perform that task (such as Harvesting L1 for foraging, Harvesting L2 for farming, etc.).

I think the game is more fun for everyone if I don't give away too much about how things work. If you experiment for awhile, you'll come up with the answers!

I've actually found that trying to "help" a villager by moving them to the place they're going instead of letting them walk can actually harm more then help. Sometimes they're doing something nifty that I've never seen before and if I were to drag them off course I might not be able to pick up the action they were doing again. So if they're doing what I want, like farmers and farming, researchers and searching, etc, I just leave them be.

A lot of interesting things can be found by dragging someone around and seeing what they see though too. So you might have a guinea pig villager who you drag around and see what they do in certain places. The villagers are your eyes on the island so using them is important! And coaching them in what actions you'd like them to take is a way to influence their behavior. If I see them doing something I don't want, like lazing about or off in another part of the island I'll drag them back and "train" them to stay in their job function. I also have a few villagers with multiple skills so I have people who can explore and possibly solve puzzles for me.

As far as speeding things up for your villagers - relax! Enjoy! You can always change the speed of the game itself to effect how things go, but personally, I use normal, sometimes when at work I pause!, because I like having the time to see them do all their crazy things and any new actions that might pop up.

Good luck!!

Fair enough. Thanks for the info. it was very helpful. I'll keep experimenting (you're right - it is fun to experiment). A great game!

Yes, I see - the "give them more freedom" upbringing approach (smile). Your guinea pig villager is a great idea. I guess it would be good to strike a balance between letting them explore for us - see what they find and "training" them to stay at their job or prevent laziness. Great ideas! Thanks for your input.

You're very welcome Hope you continue to enjoy the game!