4 ms·

Regardless of opinion on the quality of the research, how does one person prove anything. What's that quote, "the plural of anecdote isn't data"?

• jpdoctor 15y ago
  > how does one person prove anything. When the article includes the statement "Nice guys do not necessarily finish last, but they do finish a distant second in terms of earnings", it is a sign of either: 1. Imprecise writing, or 2. Wrong conclusions. If their conclusions are wrong, then the article is a waste of bits. If their writing is imprecise, then just how imprecise are the generalizing statements that cannot be disproved with an obvious counterexample? In either case, the article looks like all noise and no signal to me.
  • corin_ 15y ago
    If their conclusion is correct (and I have no idea if it is or isn't), the quite obviously that statement is a generalisation, and a perfectly fine use of one too. It quite clearly means "as a general trend", not "in absolutely every case". Did you honestly read that and think "aha, I can think of somebody who doesn't fit that statement, they're clearly wrong"?
• maw 15y ago
  No, but the plural of datum is. Datum: Buffett has done rather well for himself. Doesn't show much by itself, but then neither does trotting out an old saw.
  • corin_ 15y ago
    The fact that it's a much over-used phrase doesn't make it any less correct. The point stands that naming somebody who doesn't fit into research does not disprove it. My dad and I are both smokers, neither of us has lung cancer - I'm still pretty sure there's a link between those two despite by two pieces of datum.