“There are many studies that back up this claim” — this is not true. There were few studies (I am aware of two) and if you look at them carefully you will find out that what they tested has nothing to do with real development.

So it is safe to say that no studies exist that would prove any advantage of pair programming.

As for quality, pair programming lags far behind proper code review process. The advantage of code review is that it allows for a fresh pair of eyes to have a look at the code while with pair programming it does not happen. If you really want quality, ditch pair programming and introduce proper code reviews.

And no, for pair programming you don’t need a “strong team”, you need a team of novice to average developers who are prepared to follow the crowd and who are not strong individuals.