is not an unnatural expression and it usually means something that's not necessarily supposed to be a study but virtually functions as a kind of study, or a handy and partial learning exercise, which are synonymous to .
is OK, though it's better to say instead because could mean that the study would be shallow or not enough.
~~~~ (or ) ~~~~ can only be interpreted as "studying radicals is not enough because people look them up in electronic dictionaries". (If you really understand what after mean, ignore my correction.)