I see where you're coming from, no question in my mind about research not being the "final conclusion".

My point is that looking back, I've learned over the years that I have been misguided by research and was not better off by using it to guide my decisions. In some cases, I've been made worse. Then there are my observations from industry inside information.

We do agree on research purpose, but maybe disagree on applying it? Regardless, these are good discussion points.