When people talk about “doing your own research,” I think they underestimate how difficult and slow actual research is. For physical and biological sciences it also requires heavy investment in equipment, but you can save money by sharing resources and collaborating with others doing similar research. For social/politics/history/economic research, I would imagine you need access to primary sources, maybe some modeling software, and years of learning to understand the context of anything you’re researching. I think people who say “do your own research” don’t understand the significance of understanding context, which leads to some…interesting ideas.