When it comes to sport betting doing a good research is very important, those that always study a game very well and conduct a good research about the game and the players always end up winning more than those that don't conduct research, a friend of mine said he usually do not conduct research before playing a game because it never works for him, conducting a research don't mean you will always win the game you predicted but you have a higher chance of winning when you research.
Doing research will help you analyze historical data reveals pattern that can guide your predictions, there are history that will help you make good prediction, Research helps you rely on facts rather than emotions.
Betting without research means you are gambling blindly.
You're absolutely right about good research, especially on the players and I feel the best types of players to research on are the ones you play directly against in a PvP environment like rollspace. It's easy to study people from their choices and you can easily make predictions from there