A pattern I keep running into when reading news comments: one case is presented, and a general rule follows from it.
"I know three people who tried it and it didn't work. So it doesn't work."
Three cases is data. It is not a sample. The move happens quietly — nobody claims to be doing statistics, the conclusion just arrives as if it followed.
What makes it hard to counter is that the anecdote is usually true. You are not disputing the facts, you are disputing whether they support the weight placed on them.
Three questions that usually deflate it:- How many cases are actually behind this conclusion?- How were they selected?- Do counterexamples exist, and would we have heard about them?
The last one matters most. If the only cases that reach you are the ones someone chose to tell you, the sample is not just small — it is filtered.
What is your experience: does asking about sample size ever change the conversation, or does it read as pedantry?
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