Title: Anecdotal evidence - Wikipedia
Headings: Anecdotal evidence
Anecdotal evidence
Contents
Scientific context
Law
Scientific evidence as legal evidence
See also
References

Content: The term is often used to describe evidence for which there is an absence of documentation, leaving verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. Contents
1
Scientific context
2
Law
3
Scientific evidence as legal evidence
4
See also
5
References
Scientific context
In science, definitions of anecdotal evidence include: "casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis"
"information passed along by word-of-mouth but not documented scientifically"
"evidence that comes from an individual experience. This may be the experience of a person with an illness or the experience of a practitioner based on one or more patients outside a formal research study." "the report of an experience by one or more persons that is not objectively documented or an experience or outcome that occurred outside of a controlled environment"
Anecdotal evidence can have varying degrees of formality. For instance, in medicine, published anecdotal evidence by a trained observer (a doctor) is called a case report, and is subjected to formal peer review. Although such evidence is not seen as conclusive, researchers may sometimes regard it as an invitation to more rigorous scientific study of the phenomenon in question. For instance, one study found that 35 of 47 anecdotal reports of drug side-effects were later sustained as "clearly correct." Anecdotal evidence is considered the least certain type of scientific information. Researchers may use anecdotal evidence for suggesting new hypotheses, but never as validating evidence.