I'd encourage separating the "is it worth putting the experimental subjects through the experiment to get the resulting data?" question from the "is it worth the emotional costs of readers becoming aware of the resulting data for them to do so?"
My answer to the second is "YMMV, but it's worth it for a substantial number of readers."
My answer to the first is "it depends on the specific experimental protocol, but for a decently designed experiment, probably."
In March, a user on Reddit emailed psychologist Philip Zimbardo (leader of the Stanford Prison Experiment) to arrange an "IAmA" interview. Zimbardo agreed to answer the top 5 questions from this thread. Yesterday his answers were posted here.
The chosen questions touched on research ethics, what he originally expected to learn from the experiment, the role of psychoactive drugs in society, reading recommendations and more.
After responding, Zimbardo posed a question of his own to Reddit: