Controlled, repeatable studies designed to counter biases and generate meaningful findings. If you really loosen up the meaning of the word "anecdote" then sure, a series of certain conforming anecdotes do become data. But it doesn't follow that all collections of anecdotes are data.
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Yeah, even the original quote is "The plural of anecdote is data"
http://evidence-based-science.blogspot.ie/2009/11/plural-of-...
If it wasn't, where would data come from?
Controlled, repeatable studies designed to counter biases and generate meaningful findings. If you really loosen up the meaning of the word "anecdote" then sure, a series of certain conforming anecdotes do become data. But it doesn't follow that all collections of anecdotes are data.