When I saw the thread title I did a double-take, since I’ve thought of starting a thread with similar title!
Obviously anecdotes are inferior to the best derived statistics but
[ul][li] The earliest civilizations were built before the science of statistics or experimental controls, and “anecdotal” information is still a major source for people’s practical knowledge.[/li][li] Good anecdotal data will beat bad statistical data anyday; there’s plenty of the latter in the Age of the Interwebs.[/li][li] For a good observer, personal anecdotes can be extrapolated.[/li][/ul]
There were very clear demonstrations of the point in threads about underage prostitution. Published estimates varied from absurdly low to absurdly high. lexi was able to provide reasonable estimates by extrapolating from her personal experience, yet was ridiculed for it in the thread (“Yadder-yadder-Yaddote, plur-eral of anecdote…”). Some Dopers seemed to think the absurd numbers were better because they were published by an “authority.” :smack: (Arrests were used as a proxy for totals despite the obvious absurdity: arrests were a “statistic.”)
Two of lexi’s posts:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13868226&postcount=58
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13983396&postcount=88
Despite that she indicated how she extrapolated to get some numbers, she was answered with:
plural, anecdote, data, etc.
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I sympathise with lexi. I know little about Alcoholics Anonymous except anecdotes from my Mother, who worked as counselor with many AA people.
My vivid memory is walking downtown on Sundays with my Mom to drink tea or see a movie and have strangers walk up, introduce themselves and tell me “Your Mother saved my life!” This happened several times. I’m reluctant to mention it here, whether in support of AA or my Mother, since someone is sure to show up and show off their sophomore’s lesson
“Yadder-yadder-Yaddote, plur-eral of anecdote…”