Interesting point. Despite good intent, poor quality research can have big downstream effects If highly read research is later found to have problematic stats/conclusion/replication, suddenly branching research is questioned, media can push eroded trust narrative, & resetting takes time & effort

Hot take: Poor quality research is effective because of the imbalance in the perceived value of theory versus evidence. What people really like are explanations or theories ("understanding" something makes you feel smart). However, without compelling evidence, any explanation is just a story.