The Collective Curmudgeon’s Corner—e Collective Curmudgeon’s Corner—e Collective Curmudgeon’s Corner: Social Psychological Version

Question: I’m confused, should I say, “The data is” or “The data are”? (Submitted April 1st, 2007)

Answer: Using the word “data” has given people a sense of nerdy panache ever since Forrest Gump quipped, “Momma always said, ‘the data is as the data are.’” Unfortunately, people have been confused ever since then, too, as the data show: Even such venerable sources of normally excellent writing as The New York Times routinely use either form, treating “data” as plural 62% of the time and as singular 38% of the time, as of today. The collective curmudgeon’s data reveal that when people say, write, or think “The data is…” they actually mean “The dataset is…,” where a “dataset” is a collection of information and really is a singular noun. When people say, write, or think “The data are,” they refer to two or more pieces of information. Assuming sophisticated communication is goal, the collective curmudgeon recommends using “data” with all plural verb forms (e.g., “the data reveal… the data suck... the data will remain in the file drawer,” etc.). If you remain confused, the collective curmudgeon recommends replacing “data” with “information” (the Times never gets that one wrong). Thanks for asking; the collective curmudgeon has been annoyed about this matter for a long time. It appears Forest Gump's mother was really right about at least one thing: “Stupid is as stupid does.” And by the way, if Forrest Gump is not the originator of the “data is” quip, then he should have been.

	This page is the Collerctive Curmudgeon's Corner (Social Psychological Version), an often irreverent take on matters social psychological,scienfic, and scholarly. Why “collective”? Well, because more than one social psychologist has contributed items to this page. (More contributions welcome: Submit to the webmaster). Links: Home \| Faculty \| Students \| Courses \| News \| Downloads \| Program \| Enroll \|	The Collective Curmudgeon’s Corner: Social Psychological Version

		Author / Submitter	Item

		Various sources	Question: What is a curmudgeon? Answer: \Cur-mudg´-eon\ (ker-muh`-juhn), [origin unknown] 1. An ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions. 2. Modern: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner. (The collective curmudgeon prefers the latter definition to the former.)
		Anonymous	Question: I’m confused, should I say, “The data is” or “The data are”? (Submitted April 1st, 2007) Answer: Using the word “data” has given people a sense of nerdy panache ever since Forrest Gump quipped, “Momma always said, ‘the data is as the data are.’” Unfortunately, people have been confused ever since then, too, as the data show: Even such venerable sources of normally excellent writing as The New York Times routinely use either form, treating “data” as plural 62% of the time and as singular 38% of the time, as of today. The collective curmudgeon’s data reveal that when people say, write, or think “The data is…” they actually mean “The dataset is…,” where a “dataset” is a collection of information and really is a singular noun. When people say, write, or think “The data are,” they refer to two or more pieces of information. Assuming sophisticated communication is goal, the collective curmudgeon recommends using “data” with all plural verb forms (e.g., “the data reveal… the data suck... the data will remain in the file drawer,” etc.). If you remain confused, the collective curmudgeon recommends replacing “data” with “information” (the Times never gets that one wrong). Thanks for asking; the collective curmudgeon has been annoyed about this matter for a long time. It appears Forest Gump's mother was really right about at least one thing: “Stupid is as stupid does.” And by the way, if Forrest Gump is not the originator of the “data is” quip, then he should have been.
		Donaldson R. Forsyth	On IRBism - a somewhat tongue-in-cheek take on how Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are perceived based on his own knowledge of the social psychology of groups. The collective curmudgeon concludes: It would be foolish to expect perfect consistency from an IRB! (Cf. Aldous Huxley, below.)
		Anonymous	Question: What does “cf.” mean? Answer: “Cf.” is Latin for “compare.” as in “(cf. Kenny, 1984; Cohen et al., 2003)” meaning compare these two sources. In other instances, it can be used to offer a contrasting or comparable source to that implied by the preceding text (cf. Kenny, 1984). Despite the clear meaning in Latin, popular usage has made it a replacement for the word “see.” To avoid confusion, the collective curmudgeon advises you to use the word “see” instead of “cf.” and to reserve the latter abbreviation for cases where the stronger comparison is implied. By the way, the abbreviation “c.f.” is no replacement for the proper “cf.”, and only makes its author look unsophisticated.
		Aldous Huxley	“Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.”

		This page is the Collerctive Curmudgeon's Corner (Social Psychological Version), an often irreverent take on matters social psychological,scienfic, and scholarly. Why “collective”? Well, because more than one social psychologist has contributed items to this page. More contributions welcome: Submit them to the webmaster.

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