[wildmusings]

This is one example of the pitfalls of making decisions "based on data", as is now the fad. Turns out that your data probably sucks or doesn't measure what you think it does. It's better to not know than to know the wrong thing. A posteriori data analysis can be great, but nothing can beat a priori understanding. Ideally, you should be using your data to get to that understanding, not replace it.

[closed]

Great point. The phrase "garbage in, garbage out" seems relevant.

I always like reading comments on these types of analyses, since they often use the author's data to help me understand what might have been overlooked (which I often would have overlooked also!).