“The plural of anecdote is not data”
– Movin’ Meat, in a comment on (one of our favorite local Colorado blogs) Patient Power
I just had to say this is one of the best quotes I’ve heard in a while. It sums up a lot of things really well. There are always anecdotes, especially in health policy discussions. And anecdotes can go both ways.
I sure am seeing more and more people using anecdotes they read in a newspaper, or read in an email forward from their grandma, or heard from their uncle Don. I’m sure we’re probably guilty of it too. But kudos to Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters on this topic. Read through his blog and see how many times you see the word “chart,” “data,” “statistics,” “survey,” “study,” etc, as the link to his reference.
I just did the same thing, and I did find a reference to anecdotal evidence in this article:
“According to the latest stats from NCCI, comp medical trend was 6.0% in 2007, 8.6% in 2006, and 6.2% in 2004. By way of comparison, the CPI was 4.4% in ’07, 4% in ’06, and 4.4% in ’05. Anecdotal information from several payers indicates trend is heading up in 2008, with facility costs particularly problematic. And that anecdotal information is backed up by national figures, which indicate facility costs are the fastest growing component of the medical CPI at an annual rate of 4.8%.“
He sure isn’t very comfortable with quoting the anecdotal information, is he? I’m sure he even had a link to the anecdotal information he was speaking about right there as he was writing the article, it just wasn’t good enough.
