It is true, research is just an initial step for you to gauge if a project has a potential or not. Once the project gathered enough funds for project developent, it all depends on the whole team how will they maximize the fund and how will develop the platform/product as well as marketing which will determine the growth in the long-run.
Research is like filtering the project. There will be some projects that will pass thru on this screening stage that later on will not give their deliverables. And that really depends on the development team. If they have the intention of just collecting funds, then, we can't do something about it. Because only them can steer the project to the positive direction. Followers and supporters are just accessories to the success of their platform. But it is always better to do your own research rather than believe whatever is presented to you by other users.