I'll disagree with you on this. A collection of anecdotes absolutely is data. It may have more (and unknown) sample bias than you'd like, but it is real data. J

I'll disagree with you on this. A collection of anecdotes absolutely is data. It may have more (and unknown) sample bias than you'd like, but it is real data. Just because something happens outside the context of a formal study does not mean it's not data, nor that it can be safely disregarded.