I don't care about design tweaking or layout or other boring stuff that people seem to get hung up on. I spend the BULK of my time researching.
You can throw a simple site together in minutes with regard design. layout is simple, follow the basic. The aim of my sites are to get people in, give them as much information as they need, then give them the way out (via my preferred method of leaving), as soon as possible. I earn, they get what they want, the people that pay me get a customer (or whatever I am getting paid to deliver), everybody is happy.
I guess I spend half my research time looking at existing stats (to split into tighter sub niches), and the other half researching new areas.
The time I spend on forums is relaxation and feelgood time. I get a psychological lift from helping people.