There’s nothing wrong with a fondness for data. The trouble begins when you begin to favor bad arguments that involve data over good arguments that don’t, or insist that metrics be introduced in realms where data can’t realistically be the foundation of a good argument.

It is, says Aristotle, the mark of the educated person to seek the appropriate amount of precision for each subject.

Large-scale data collection efforts will likely be useful when they target those qualities that:

Are highly invariant and stable between contexts

Have accessible, mechanical methods for being counted

Do not involve a value decision

One of... See more