Personally, I spend time researching $1.99 apps because I don't want to waste my time as well as my money. It usually takes less time to read up on a few apps than spend time using them all and finding their shortcomings myself.
To me it's more about who deserves the reward. $1.99 might not be a monetary tragedy, but it's giving someone a pat on the back that they may not deserve and asking for a refund for that amount just seems petty, so I'd rather do the research and encourage the best dev with my dollars.
Suggesting that they buy half a dozen and just delete the ones they don't like is met with a look as if I suggested sawing their own arm off.
Predictably their phones are just jammed with apps that they never use but keep because the "paid good money" for.