We really have two discussions going here. First, the question seems to be whether to take the AP Research credit. This is a relatively new AP course, along with AP Seminar, which is a prerequisite for AP Research. If your college will give you credit for it, it makes sense to take it unless there are other reasons. For example, some schools charge more for upper division classes, so AP classes may give a student junior status as early as second semester, freshman year. In that case, the parent may end up paying upper division tuition for four years. In other cases, particularly AP Physics and AP Calculus, the school’s courses may be more rigorous or geared more toward subsequent classes. In that case, a student, even with a 5 score, may want to take the classes and not take the credits.
The AP research class description from the AP web site follows:
AP Research, the second course in the AP Capstone experience, allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan, and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question. Through this inquiry, they further the skills they acquired in the AP Seminar course by learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information.
Students reflect on their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of their scholarly work through a process and reflection portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper of 4,000–5,000 words (accompanied by a performance, exhibit, or product where applicable) and a presentation with an oral defense.
My son took credit for both AP Seminar and AP Research (I don’t remember the course equivalents).
The second question seems to be whether the AP Research credit would satisfy a student’s research obligation for graduate school admission. In my opinion, the courses help prepare a student for researching and preparing a college upper division liberal arts paper, but it’s not as rigorous as or a substitute for what a student would do for a senor thesis, for example. And it’s of course not at all the type of research that a STEM student would need to get admitted into a PhD program.