Marketing By The Numbers.

This year,  I've been mostly hearing people (usually politicians or religious folk) defending their viewpoints by saying things like "I think most people would agree that".  Business executives aren't immune either.

Anecdata has its place. It can hint at behaviours that are worthy of investigation. After all, who needs focus groups or trend analysts when a gym membership allows you to overhear and "learn" so much.
But that's all they are - random overhearings and observations filtered through heuristic biases and your worldview.

Reckons are useful, but statistical significance is what counts, especially when it's so easy to test and evaluate these days. Yet ,innumeracy remains widespread. That's inexcusable.