numerous scientific communicators have put effort into explaining why this seemingly “common-sense” belief is actually counterproductive

I agree with that if we're talking about scientific fields. But this is a socio-economic field, not a scientific one - you could just have asked 500 people what they would do instead of spending a whole lot of money on a 3 year study.

“Why do scientists study obvious things?”

Tax money is tasty yum yum.

I hope you’ll use this as an opportunity to seek out information next time

If the study makes sense, I will. This study was a waste of tax money.