"It's all in how the research is designed."

That is absolutely true. I've also designed and conducted research in business when working while I was younger.

While an unethical researcher can design research to arrive at a predetermined outcome, I believe that is relatively rare. I think that most of the problems in research can be attributed to an array of factors such as poor sampling (size, quality, convenience, etc.), question design (what exactly is being measured?), response rates, schedule, cost, experience and so on.

Another issue concerns the consumer of the research. I've seen others in the situation where their results did not conform to the client's (or management's) beliefs. On one or two occasions I've even seen results twisted by the client to conform to those beliefs, even though the data clearly did not support.

I don't agree that all research is suspect. But all research has weaknesses, and it's best to be aware of that and look out for them.