I'm not sure it's the kind of thing that really admits scientific evidence. By the metric of "dollars earned" or "jobs hired" actors of every different school of acting get jobs, and I doubt it makes a measurable difference at the box office.

It's an art so the techniques that work are the ones the artist chooses. I'm sure there are some who are happier with an animatronic and others who would just as soon scream at a production assistant on a ladder.