Why should joins be avoided with many-to-many relationships?

In many-to-many relationships, each record in one table can be associated with multiple records in another table, and vice versa. When performing joins in such scenarios, the likelihood of creating duplicates significantly increases. This happens because for each combination of the associated records, new rows are generated in the result set. As a result, the dataset size can balloon unexpectedly, making it harder to manage and analyze the data effectively.

Additionally, an increased dataset size can lead to various operational challenges, such as longer processing times and higher memory usage. Thus, avoiding joins in many-to-many relationships helps maintain a cleaner and more manageable dataset, allowing for more accurate analysis and reporting. The potential for duplications stands as a critical reason for exercising caution when dealing with these types of relationships, rendering the overall data analysis process more efficient and effective.