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Anecdote vs Anecdata - What's the difference?

anecdote | anecdata |

As nouns the difference between anecdote and anecdata

is that anecdote is a short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting while anecdata is (usually|humorous|or|pejorative) anecdotal evidence.

anecdote

English

(wikipedia anecdote)

Alternative forms

* anecdota * anecdoton (Grecian) * anecdotum

Noun

(en noun)
  • A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting.
  • An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.
  • A previously untold secret account of an incident.

    • Derived terms

    * anecdotage * anecdotal * anecdotalism * anecdotally * anecdotard * anecdotarian * anecdoter * anecdotic * anecdotical * anecdotish (rare) * anecdotist * anecdotive (rare) * anecdotographer

    anecdata

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • (usually, humorous, or, pejorative) Anecdotal evidence.
  • * 1992, Paul Solman on MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour show #4285 (March 6, 1992), "Guessing Game":
  • *:: A handful of stores, just one mall, not what you'd call a statistically significant sample. In fact, the most recent government report was that retail sales rose in January, which just goes to show why the journalist's approach to reality, what you might call "anecdata," may be the flimsiest form of forecasting.
  • * 1997, Chris Doherty, in uw.general [http://groups.google.com/group/uw.general/msg/f76904cb576d428c?dmode=source]
  • *:: Anecodotal evidence strongly suggests that this is just the high profile expression of a much larger problem of misogynistic violence.
    • Ah, yes. Anecdata . Fortunately, real honest studies which are peer-reviewed and critiqued suggest otherwise.
  • * 2003, Justin Hughes, “Legal Pressures in Intellectual Property Law,” in Role of Scientific and Technical Data in the Public Domain [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN030908850X&id=ctUGUBbz8jsC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&sig=m7Hx0jCw3E_pioct4XUqRMStjOI]
    • That is one of those stories that I call “anecdata ”—these horror stories over which we try to construct theories about how something is or is not working in IP law and policy.
  • * 2004, David J Windisch, in rec.radio.amateur.antenna [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.amateur.antenna/msg/cb7770c089ccce2d?dmode=source&hl=en]
    • Might even try this anecdata' in Roy's Toy3, to see if its gui-ed algorithm-ized academic mumblings prove this scandalous ' anecdata .
  • * 2005, Lindsay Endell, in uk.misc [http://groups.google.com/group/uk.misc/msg/05d3feba8bcef272?dmode=source]
    • I have read interviews with people (yeah, I know, anecdata ) who have said that they wanted an apology for a mistake being made and ended up going to court over it. And invariably winning.