anecdotal evidence
Stories, not statistics
Anecdotal evidence is information based on personal accounts rather than systematic observation or controlled study.
Someone citing their grandmother who smoked and lived to 95 is offering anecdotal evidence against the dangers of tobacco.
The term often carries a dismissive tone—anecdotal evidence may be vivid and persuasive but proves little on its own: That's just anecdotal evidence.
Unverified secondhand information
- rumorUnconfirmed circulating story
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
- conjectureGuess from limited facts
- old wives' taleUnfounded traditional belief
urban legend · folk wisdom · superstition · assumption · word of mouth · circumstantial · unfounded · apocryphal
Accounts or building levels
- accountsRecords of transactions
- talesSpoken or written narratives
- yarnsThreads or tall tales
- hearsayUnverified secondhand information
gossip · word-of-mouth · personal stories · water cooler talk · campfire stories · grapevine · scuttlebutt · chitchat
Researched particular instance
- exampleRepresentative case shown
- vignetteBrief evocative description
- illustrationPicture explaining something
- snapshotInformal photograph taken quickly
scenario · demonstration · instance · testimonial · cautionary tale · success story · parable · object lesson
Events one has lived through
- firsthand accountReport from direct experience
- eyewitness accountTestimony from direct observer
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- recollectionRecalled mental image
memoir · impressionistic · experiential · self-reported · lived experience · qualitative · biographical · introspective
hearsay
Unverified secondhand information
- rumorUnconfirmed circulating story
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
- conjectureGuess from limited facts
old wives' tale · urban legend · folk wisdom · superstition · assumption · word of mouth · circumstantial · unfounded · apocryphal · folklore
stories
Accounts or building levels
hearsay · gossip · word-of-mouth · personal stories · water cooler talk · campfire stories · grapevine · scuttlebutt · chitchat · chatter
case study
Researched particular instance
- exampleRepresentative case shown
- vignetteBrief evocative description
- illustrationPicture explaining something
snapshot · scenario · demonstration · instance · testimonial · cautionary tale · success story · parable · object lesson · showcase
personal experience
Events one has lived through
- firsthand accountReport from direct experience
- eyewitness accountTestimony from direct observer
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
recollection · memoir · impressionistic · experiential · self-reported · lived experience · qualitative · biographical · introspective
- logical fallaciesfallacy, straw man, ad hominem, red herring, false dilemma
- rhetoric termsethos, pathos, logos, ad hominem, oratory
- critical thinkingcritical thinking, reasoning, logic puzzles, analysis, inference
- cherry-pickinghandpicking, stacking the deck, selection bias
- denialismclimate denial, Holocaust denial, vaccine denial, denialism, anti-science
- fallaciesstraw man, red herring, circular reasoning, ad hominem, fallacy
anecdotal evidenceempirical evidence
Proof from measurable observation
scientific evidence · systematic research · controlled study · experimental data · meta-analysis
evidence, anecdote, evidences, evidencing, anecdotal, anecdotes, anecdotally, self-evident, evidentiary