I'm not aware of any rigorous experiments that demonstrate that tomatoes are better left at room temperature than in a refrigerator. The French study referenced indicates that volatiles are reduced (no surprise) but that the effect is partially negated by allowing them to come back to room temperature before consumption. From what I can tell, this study does not compare quality of tomatoes left at room temperature for days to refrigerated tomatoes.
I don't consider 2 separate testings with 16 subjects to be a poor experiment. Could it be even better? Sure. Is it a lot more rigorous than the anecdotal claims people propagate about refrigerated tomatoes? Absolutely.
The article I linked did a more in-depth comparison and still came to the same conclusion. http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/tomato-taste-test-refrige...
I don't consider 2 separate testings with 16 subjects to be a poor experiment. Could it be even better? Sure. Is it a lot more rigorous than the anecdotal claims people propagate about refrigerated tomatoes? Absolutely.