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A comment on A Colleague Drank My Breast Milk and Other Wall Street Tales. Parent comment

Re:A Colleague Drank My Breast Milk and Other Wall Street Tales by jdmichal on Monday January 25, 2016 @05:08PM (#10970340)
> The plural of anecdote is not data.

I never understood this sentiment. That's exactly what data is; we call them surveys or polls.

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Re:A Colleague Drank My Breast Milk and Other Wall Street Tales by striking on Monday January 25, 2016 @05:16PM (#10970406)
Anecdotes often lack rigidity or quantification, and they may be based on preconceived notions rather than genuine hypotheses.

You're right in a sense, but you have to be careful as to how you sample anecdotes for them to be factual rather than anecdotal evidence. "I talked to some guys from a frat and they were mean, thus all frat guys are mean" does not logically follow.

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