I've put it back to the way it was, before I started messing with the search and recordsets. Now, I just changed the code in the Search parameters to this:
//comparison list additions
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"last_name","S_Last_Name","","Includes",0);
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"first_name","S_first_name","OR","Includes",0);
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"dbo.tblApplications.appStatusID","S_appStatusID","OR","=",1);
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"typeOfApplicant","applicantTypeID","OR","=",1);
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"applicationDate","startDate","AND",">=",0);
WADbSearch1 = addComparisonFromEdit(WADbSearch1,"applicationDate","endDate","AND","<=",0);
It seems to be working now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it? :)