Comment by incrudible

I didn't intend to convey that the answer to my question is "no". That's the whole problem with tests: Most of the time, it's drudge work and it does feel like they're a waste of time when they never signal anything. That doesn't mean they are a waste of time.

Similarly, if a research paper shows that its hypothesis is false, the author might feel that it was a waste of time having worked on it, which can lead to publication bias.