See that’s the kind of thing I don’t understand and maybe it’s because my personal epistemology sees data as largely useless without a tentative (or consistent) theory to work from. You can collect as much data as you want but at the end of the day the data may be utterly worthless unless you know what to look for. Whether it’s measuring particle decay or how often people click a link if your theory is wrong the data can’t always show it without it being framed properly. It’s why I see big data as mostly smoke and mirrors. Some of it might be good and very much based on sound statistical analysis but the stuff I’ve seen recently that’s come out either borders on phrenology or outright occultism (without the fancy hats). So I say it’s best to not collect data because you’re too busy doing that without asking what data you actually need and in what context does it help you.
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