How to use research?

In the world of advertising, research is used very often. However, I think the research is a double-edged sword and it should be treated very carefully. While in a lot of cases it can be very helpful, it can also be dangerous to the strategy making.
Advertising people may think that the research is very helpful when they try to find out how to advertise the client’s product. They do the research to the target audience, the media and the competitors. They ask potential customers what they think of the potential product, what they believe the benefits of the product are, and what it would make them to try the product and etc. All these research result may help you to gather the information and know the product more.
However, research will never be able to tell you if your ideas based on the research are actually going to be successful.
Imaging when the research is conducted, a random group of people are sitting in a room looking at an advertising work, being asked to comment on how they like it. This is not how people interact with advertising in the daily life. The end result is a bunch of opinions that don’t reflect the real world and be helpless on the advertising campaign. Steve Jobs refused to do marketing research for his iPad in front of focus groups, saying that people don't know what they really want.
Thus, research is ideal for gaining information before starting the advertising work. But using research to decide the communication strategy or see if the strategy is going to be successful is pointless.