I wonder, is it even worth my doing research on charities, when there exist resources like givewell, that will almost certainly be able to do a more thorough and more accurate analysis than I would be able to do?
If you have very similar values to the folks at GiveWell, then I would advise you to simply review their research and donate to their top-ranked charities, rather than conducting your own research, given that your time is valuable. If you have somewhat different values from the folks at GiveWell, you might look into organizations (MIRI, Animal Charity Evaluators, etc.) who have already conducted effective altruism-relevant research in other fields, before branching off and starting your own research.
I may value the well being of non-human mammals, relative to human mammals, more than others, and so chose to support animal rights groups
Animal Charity Evaluators is a Givewell-like charity evaluator which has its roots in the EA movement, and focuses on evaluating organizations which seek to reduce non-human suffering. I'm not as familiar with them as I am with GiveWell, but the fact that Animal Charity Evaluators branched off of 80,000 Hours is a good signal of their credibility.
I want to be informed and to act because I have evaluated the evidence, not just go "with the herd." There's a stigma against simply taking the word of an authority, and rightly so; on the net, the world would be better if more people stopped to think for themselves (does anyone disagree?). But it is also the case that there are many fields in which I have to defer to experts because I simply am not equipped to deal with or consider the problems.
I wonder, is it even worth my doing research on charities, when there exist resources like givewell, which will almost certainly be able to do a more thorough and more accurate analysis than I would be able to do? Should I just defer to givewell when giving my effective charity?
I'll note that there is a difference between values and facts: I might decide for myself that I care more about some issues than others, due to variations in my personal moral calculus (for instance, I may value the well being of no-human mammals, relative to human mammals, more than others, and so chose to support animal rights groups, instead of poverty elimination), but might still defer to the experts with regards to how to most efficiently accomplish my stated goals.
Also, do I have good evidence to defer to the expertise of givewell? I like the idea, their analysis seems insightful, and people on this forum often speak highly of them. But these are all relativity superficial and don't seem like sufficient reason to allow them to dictate my giving (that's just lazily, submitting to the slick-looking authority). How do I evaluate the expertise of experts?