I would be wary of "studies" on such arbitrary and relatively unmeasurable stuff - they are based on self-reporting, which is biased as hell. I doubt that any woman would openly say "I like short guys", just like no man would openly say "I like women in a wheelchair" or "I like women who are 6 in a beauty scale." or "I like blind women" or whatever.

Then they meet a particular guy/woman who becomes the exception. It always depends on the person. While there are certainly many shallow people who automatically discard other people purely on looks, there are also many who ultimately don't care.