Re: [xml-dev] Designing an experiment to gather evidence on approachesto

[Frank Manola <fmanola@acm.org>]

Roger--

You seem to be confusing "evidence" with something like "proof" (or, perhaps, "metrics"), and "anecdotes" with something like "oral testimony".   If, in your example, an international expert in building web services who'd built 15 systems exactly like the ones you described that had been successfully working for 10 years told you which design was better, would you dismiss that as simply "anecdotal"?  You might want more details of his/her rationale, and not necessarily consider that input totally determinative, but wouldn't it be reasonably considered "evidence".  Eyewitness testimony in court isn't exactly "anecdotal" (it's not a story, exactly), and is not always considered reliable, but it is considered "evidence".  If you're trying to be "scientific", be careful to define your terms.

--Frank

On Dec 28, 2011, at 12:35 PM, Costello, Roger L. wrote:

>> I was asking about the difference between anecdote and evidence.
> 
> Ah! Sorry Rich, I misunderstood your question.
> 
> Perhaps the best answer to your question is this blog: 
> 
>      "Anecdotal Evidence" is an oxymoron
> 
> http://rogercostello.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/anecdotal-evidence-is-an-oxymoron/
> 
> /Roger
> 
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