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I'm not against collecting data. But one problem with mixing data collection and politics is that just by selecting which data to collect and which data to not
by nightski 6y ago
I'm not against collecting data. But one problem with mixing data collection and politics is that just by selecting which data to collect and which data to not collect you are implicitly crafting a narrative. It's very subjective, and the data collected will be based on the agenda of the politics at hand. There is no such thing as pure unbiased data collection.
- elliekelly 6y agoIt can be done though, can’t it? The SEC’s mandate is largely to enforce accurate and timely disclosure of information to the public. It’s not a perfect system but it works pretty well. Why couldn’t there be an SEC-type entity that requires periodic public filings from police departments or hospitals?
- throwaway894345 6y agoThis is certainly true in the abstract (we see a lot of this in homogeneous institutions like universities and newsrooms and it’s a real problem), but I don’t see the risk in this particular case. Further this is a generic argument against empiricism—it’s hard to get unbiased data, but that doesn’t invalidate the enterprise.