Three wise quotes (possibly apocryphal? - via Paul Kedrosky) from physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937):

• "If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment."
• "You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10¹² to 1."
• "The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't."

... in other words:

• be skeptical
• don't be too skeptical
• seek and weigh quantitative evidence for claims — especially when they involve complex systems like human beings

(cf High Precision (2002-07-16), ...) - ^z - 2019-12-07