Reading someone call for in-depth study in one sentence and saying they're already convinced of their own pet theory in the next because of anecdata (anecdatum?

Reading someone call for in-depth study in one sentence and saying they're already convinced of their own pet theory in the next because of anecdata (anecdatum?) has me puzzled - I can't decide if it's an indictment of the author or merely ironic evidence for his thesis.