Evaluation of Data - Outpoints, Pluspoints. "A datum is as valuable as it has been evaluated". How to evaluate data.

Evaluate: to determine the value of something (verb).
Evaluation: The act of evaluating. The result of something being evaluated (noun).
Datum: a fact or piece a of information (noun). Data is plural of Datum.

To be able to evaluate anything you need at least two data. The basic act of evaluating is to compare two things or two data of similar nature.


Antique lamp	New lamp

Example: People, who are to determine the dollar value of an antique lamp, for instance, will compare the lamp they are asked to evaluate with other antique lamps of similar history, quality and condition. They will find recently sold items in order to be able to evaluate the market value of the present lamp.

When shopping you
are constantly comparing
products and prices to
get the best deal.

Example: You compare cans of beans of different make in the supermarket in order to find the best deal. Shopping is an intense experience in terms of evaluating.

Example: You compare the strengths and weaknesses of sports teams in a tournament to find which team is the true champion; this is done through competition.

Fans constantly evaluate players' performance. A tournament is the
ultimate experience of evaluating their
strengths and weaknesses.

If you want to find out if something is true or not you will compare the datum with other data. You will look it up in books, ask informed people, compare it with your experience, or try to find out by making new observations. You can make an experiment and try to predict things based on the datum you are evaluating. Doing any of this is to evaluate the datum in question.

An important part of study is to be able to evaluate the data studied. When you study something for application you have to be able to think with the data you learn. You have to be able to determine how relevant the data you are presented with are to what you want to accomplish with your study.

Study of any subject should start with answering some hard questions for yourself. Once you have those answered you have a basis upon which you can evaluate or sort out the data you are presented with. The very first question in study for application seems always to be: "What is the purpose of this?"


A student with the goal of becoming an astronaut will be very focused and know what is important to him and what is not.

Purpose
A purpose is a clear idea in what direction one is going and why. It's related to goal and can be defined as a lesser goal.
Any worthwhile activity is guided by a purpose. The purpose is a statement of what it is good for. It is why you do it, what you want to achieve by doing it, what you want to get out of doing it.

Example: When you start on a drive, you have an idea of the destination. You probably have a picture made up of the place you are going to arrive at; the people you are going to meet; the things you are going to see, buy, or pick up.

You have this picture
of an restored Chevy
in your head that
keeps you going.

Let's say you are going to meet some new people who have the same interest as you have. It is two brothers who restore old cars. They are interested in classic cars and so are you. You have not met them before but only talked to them over the phone. You don't know exactly where the brothers live but you have an address for them. You would still have a very good idea of why you want to go there. They told you about this old car, a Chevy1970, they have. They tried to explain a lot of details about the car. It was hard to make out exactly what they meant over the phone. Instead you decided to meet so they could show you exactly what they were talking about.

So you have this picture of a restored old Chevy in your head. You have made a picture of how you think the brothers look. You have an address for them, an appointment, and a map. You are all set to go. You have a purpose and a method of getting there.

You find the address on the map and start driving in that direction. You figure out which way to go. For each turn you take you check that you are on the right course. In one form or another you ask yourself. "Is this going to bring me closer to or further away from my destination?". If you confirm it is going to bring you closer you are happy and satisfied. You are going to arrive and arrive in time. If you have taken a wrong turn you will start to get uneasy, nervous, maybe even frantic if you suddenly realize you are lost. In other words, you have an emotional response that is directly related to the progress or threatened failure of your mission. All the time you study the map, the road signs, the traffic, and so on. Study, study, study. Evaluating data, evaluating data, evaluating data.

To figure out how
something applies is an
important part of study.

How Does This Apply?
Another basic question when evaluating data is the question "How does this apply?" You can read data all day long that wouldn't add up to much. If you take a subject like botany (the classification of plants) you have a subject that describes things endlessly without it adding up to much. It seems to have very little practical use.

If you were trying to find out about herbs and plants that could be used for medical purposes reading botany would be very frustrating. It has some relevance, but the idea of applying botany to anything seems a stranger to the subject itself.

The same can be the case with mathematical theory. Students are often taught a lot of abstract formulas, equations, and lines of reasoning, but it is all too often left mid-air. The trouble with mathematical theory is also explained with the "Lack of Mass" phenomena. But the lack of mass is here better described as lack of practical use or lack of relevance to anything the student does or knows.

"Pure Mathematics" seems to
some a subject of abstract beauty.
To most it seems troublesome
unless it is related to the
resolution of
a of practical problem.

"Pure Mathematics" seems to some a subject of abstract beauty. To most it seems troublesome unless it is related to the resolution of some kind of practical problem.

Its Relative Importance
Another key question is to figure out the relative importance of data. Some data are terribly important to a subject. Others are somewhat important. Others again are of very little importance and some are irrelevant. You can even run into false or destructive data; they would have negative value you could say.

Natural law, such as
Newton's Law of Gravity,
is terribly important
to a bridge engineer.

The most important data would be natural law. If you want to build bridges you better know something about gravity for instance. You actually need to study gravity long and hard in order to be able to build a structure that will remain standing for many years.

You will also have to know something about rust protection, such as paint, galvanizing, or plastic coating. This is somewhat important as it will determine how long a steel bridge will last. But this can better be left to others as the wrong paint will not cause the bridge to collapse. What color of paint to choose would be of little importance from an engineer's viewpoint. It is not a life or death decision as it does not effect the bridge's strength nor its life-span. What make of trucks is going to use the bridge would be of no importance whatsoever to you as an engineer. You simply have to know how heavy they were and approximately how many were going to cross the bridge at the same time and on a daily basis.

Let's say it was a major city that had commissioned you to build that bridge. Anything you wanted to do would have to be approved by the city council. There could be all kinds of political interests at work. Some council members may want to prevent the whole project from being done. They may feed all kinds of false or destructive data into the process. They may try to start a strike, come with alternative but unworkable solutions to that bridge, and so on. Their data could very well be twisted, false, or outright destructive.

Politicians against
the project may try
to add irrelevant
and false data.

When we talk Relative Importance in studying a subject it is something you should evaluate all the time. A simple system to use is to have a pencil and underscore the important parts. By sitting there with your pencil ready to underscore any sentences that express the basic principles you keep yourself on the lookout for relative importances. A somewhat better system is to use demos of the most important principles expressed in the text. There are other systems for evaluating data as you go along. Any such sensible system is useful as it keeps you active. Evaluating the data constantly as you go along is really what is doing the trick.

When studying a subject we can divide it into elements of varying importance like this:

Basic Principles: The invariable natural laws and axioms of a subject. These must be known and fully understood.
Doingness: The actions, skills, activities, and methods involved. What one must be able to do in the subject must be learned and mastered.
Incidental Fact: There are other facts than basic law a student has to know, the less important ones - they often build on basic principles.
Explanations: Further discussion of the principles and actions. They must be understood in order to fully understand the basic principles. Beyond that they have less importance.
Examples: Examples usually illustrate what is being taught. They help students relate to the subject. They aren't always needed. They aren't the material itself.
Opinion: Study materials may express an opinion about things. These might be interesting, but aren't that important compared to the data being taught.
Filler: Textbooks may include other data that have no relevance to the subject. It can be casual remarks, elaborate embellishments, etc. These are not important.

There is a drastic difference in importance between basic principles and opinions about unrelated subjects. They may be in the same print in the text and not be given different emphasis. It is often up to the student to sort this out.

Out-points and Plus-points

R. Hubbard developed a system for evaluating data. He wrote a series of essays, called the Data Series Policies, about it. The first essays were published in 1970; the rest in the following years. This system is very applicable to study. It can be used to evaluate a text being studied as you go along. It can also be used when you choose what textbooks to study - that is if you have a choice. For the Clearbird publications this system, and the Study Technology in general, has played an important role in how we have written and edited our manuals.

When using the system you evaluate the usefulness of the data studied. You evaluate their relative truth and their relative importance and so on. It is all evaluated against the purpose you want to follow or the goal you want to achieve.

When R. Hubbard developed and formulated the Study Technology - this was largely done in 1964 - these ideas seem to be present all over the place. But since the terminology and classifications weren't fully developed until the 1970s they weren't clearly communicated at the time. In hindsight you can find this system used in most parts of his technical writings. He wrote a set of 'Logics' in 1951. These could be said to be the axioms of learning and rational thought. The Logics contain this famous quote: "A datum is as valuable as it has been evaluated"; the more you examine a datum the better you will know to use it in practice. We have included an illustrated essay on the Logics. It is the next chapter in the manual.

The Data Series mainly apply to running large organizations, intelligence operations, and doing troubleshooting for top-management. Much of it is in difficult language and we won't go into it in great detail as the series are not primarily intended for students learning to study. Let us just conclude that the basic principles of reasoning were behind the development of R. Hubbard's clearing technology as well as the Study Technology. Using the the key terms from the later developed terminology thus make a lot of sense and help clarify the subject of study when it comes to evaluation of data.

We will only use three main terms here: Ideal Scene, Out-points and Plus-points.

Ideal Scene:
1) The basic concept of The Ideal Scene for any activity is really a clean statement of its purpose.
2. the Ideal Scene is the state of affairs envisioned to be the best obtainable reality or the Improvement of even that.

"A nice house in the suburbs"
could be the Ideal Scene
for a family with three kids.
Each kid would have their
own room and there
would be room
for all the family's activities.

Out-point: An out-point is something that is wrong with an ideal scene. It's a datum that doesn't add up right. An out-point doesn't mean that the data presented are false, but the outnesses have to be taken into consideration. They subtract from the Ideal Scene as they don't align with the purpose or goal pursued.

An Out-point is something
that doesn't add up. Such as
the clues a good detective
is looking for.

Plus-point: Plus-points are indicators of something right. It's an element of the Ideal Scene. It's data that are in good order; they show something that is right. They are part of or help to obtain the Ideal Scene as they align with the purpose or goal pursued.

Having a computer whiz
at work can be a great
Plus-point in a company.

Ideal Scene
Formulating the Ideal Scene for a subject or activity takes a little bit of skill. It takes familiarity with the area to be reliable. Yet, it is the key to the system. You have to figure out how things should be to be ideal. We are not talking about completely unreal ideas or dreams. They have to be consistent with the activity and what would actually be obtainable if things went real well or were done exactly right. As it says in the definition above, it's a clean statement of its purpose. It's how something ought to be and function if you had free hands to arrange them in the best possible way that is actually obtainable.

A fully restored car could
be the Ideal Scene for
our old Chevy.

Example: The ideal scene for an old car in bad repair, you could decide, would be the same old car; but everything fixed very well so it now was running like a clock and purring like a cat. Per definition you could of course improve upon that, such as getting a brand new luxury car.

A cashier taking in lots
of money would be an
important part of the
Ideal Scene for a store.

Example: The existing scene for a store could be: it was currently failing, had few customers, and was loosing money; it didn't open on time, the stock was out of date, and the interior and exterior in poor condition. Such a state of affairs could be analyzed for outpoints to determine where to begin and what to change.
The ideal scene could be: lots of customers coming in and paying good prices for the merchandize. The store restocking with the latest and the newest, which created new business. It was opening on time and all personnel were well trained, polite, and presentable, capable of attracting repeat customers. There would be money enough for everything, including a make-over of the interior and a new store front.

The system can easily be applied to textbooks and education.

"I built my dream house in 6 months"

A presentation like this would at one glance show
the do-it-yourself'er what the book was all about.

Example: Let's say we have a Do-it-yourself textbook in how to build a house. It is written for men with solid handyman experience but a non-professional background.

The ideal scene for such a book would be: there are photos and drawings of all the important steps and actions. It shows step-by-step show how to build the house. The book wouldn't get into a lot of specialized language unless it had to; and it would explain any difficult words used. Also, the choice of house to build is important. It had to be something a do-it-yourself'er could build with normal tools and good basic skills. Each element used in the construction shouldn't be bigger and heavier than the builder and a couple of his friends could lift and handle it. Suddenly to introduce construction cranes, descriptions of how to produce glass for windows, and so on would be completely off-limits. The step-by-step practical instructions of what to buy and how to put it together, what tools to use, and how much money it all would cost is what the builder wants to know. The purpose of it all would be to end up with a good and functional house at an affordable price.

The textbook would at its front cover have a picture of the finished house. Maybe with a proud do-it-yourself'er pointing at it and say, "I built that house myself in 6 months!" The picture of the finished house would give the ideal scene at one glance. The book would show them step-by-step how to get there.

Out-points

We had the definition: An out-point is something that is wrong with an ideal scene. It's a datum that doesn't add up right. An out-point doesn't mean that the data presented are false, but the outnesses have to be taken into consideration. They subtract from the Ideal Scene as they don't align with the purpose or goal pursued.

The out-points are:

(1) omitted datum or thing, (2) altered sequence, (3) dropped time, (4) falsehood, (5) altered importance, (6) wrong target, (7) wrong source, (8) contrary facts, (9) added time, (10) added inapplicable data, (11) incorrectly included datum.

Let's take a look at each of them with examples:

Omitted Datum or Thing
A datum, fact or anything that should be there but is missing.

In the how-to book the shingles on the roof are shown to be in place but the description or details of how they got there or how to fasten them are omitted. This may cover up the fact it is too difficult to do for a handyman.
In the store example: "no costumers" would be an 'omitted'. It sure does not add up to the ideal scene.
In a textbook: omitted definitions of special terms is an out-point of omitted datum.

In news: "Politician kills voter" could be a headline. If it doesn't state it was a car accident and neither 'politician' nor 'voter' had much to do with why the accident happened the whole news story would have been completely altered by omitting essential facts. It may grab the readers' attention but it is not informative.

The omitted Datum or Thing
can be hard to find since it is
not there. The question is:
   What should be there but isn't?

Altered Sequence
Things are explained, happening, or done out of sequence. Doing a series of steps in this order 5, 3, 1, 4, 2, would be Altered Sequence.

In the how-to book: how to make the roof is chapter one. Then how to build the walls, etc. are explained in chapter five. Obviously this is wrong sequence for building a house and is confusing to the reader.

If you try to do the
roof before the walls
   you are in deep trouble.

Store: the customer is required to pay before he is even let into the store. This violates the sequence of store shopping. The customer wants to look around, look at several products, decide, and then pay.

News: a war is reported by a national newspaper. It describes this senseless and brutal attack from the enemy. The article very patriotic and very one-sided. The fact that the attack was a 'pay-back' for an earlier attack on the enemy is not reported. This is an 'altered sequence' and an 'omitted fact'.

Dropped Time
'When' something happened or should be done is not mentioned.

Store: The store never opens on time. Sometimes it stays open after hours to 'make up time'. Following the posted opening hours has dropped out completely. Something is wrong. A variation of this would be not to post the opening hours at all. Sometimes you see signs like "open now and then" in failing operations.

   ~~Opening Hours~~

Not following advertised
opening hours is an example of 'Dropped Time'.

News Headline: "Earth Quake in San Francisco!" is the big headline. That it happened 50 years ago is only way down in the story. This is 'dropped time' in some news stories; usually it's more subtle.

Sending out invitations for a meeting but not state when it is taking place is another example of "dropped time".

Falsehood
A false datum, a deception, a pretence, or an outright lie.

The how-to book: time- and price-estimates are way too 'optimistic' as to make it more attractive to get started. The author dreamt them up because they 'sounded good'. He is "selling" his idea, not giving factual and accurate information.

Store: they advertise a 'special offer' in the paper. it says: "Arm Chairs from $5 - ten first customers". When the customers come in the sales persons say, "Sorry! we just sold the last one", although they never had any arm chairs for $5.

      SPECIAL!
Arm Chairs - $5

   A falsehood is used
to lure the customers.

Medicine: epidemic illnesses, such as the 'Black Death', were blamed on witches and their connection to the Devil; sometimes as God's punishment. Not until bacteria and the importance of hygiene was discovered could anything effective be done. Blaming it on witches was a falsehood (and wrong source - see below).

Altered Importance
Facts are given the wrong value and importance. Basic laws are brushed off as incidental facts. Comments are made into all important statements of fact.

The How-to book: There is a major chapter in the book about how to use antique hand saws and hand drills. Since nobody of right mind would dream of using that the importance is altered. It should have been a chapter about current tools, including power tools, to make sense.

Store: The store owner is convinced that his business is failing due to the way the sales personnel dress. He insists upon the men bind their ties a certain way; the women have to wear a certain type of shoes. The owner is especially fixated upon the cashier as he takes in the money.
He completely overlooks the fact that his merchandize is out of style and in low demand.

The storeowner may
think the cashier is the
   key to his business since
he takes in the money.

Wrong Target
Fixing the wrong thing is a wrong target. One is pursuing the wrong goal or target. Blaming or attacking the wrong people is wrong target. Even completely misunderstanding who you are trying to communicate to can be a wrong target. It is often due to mistaken identity.

Law enforcement: arresting and prosecuting the wrong man is wrong target. It would fall under 'blaming and attacking the wrong people' and 'mistaken identity' in the definition.

Repairs: When fixing a car the mechanic changes fully functional parts and leaves the broken fuel pump in place. He runs up a big bill but doesn't fix the car. This is wrong target.

Blaming the cat for one's
bad luck in business and
   punishing it is 'Wrong Target'.

The how-to book: the author loves to show off as a professional, using very technical language, explaining other ways to accomplish each step. He becomes very scientific when it comes to describing building materials. Obviously it is not a 'how-to' book any more. The author is addressing the wrong audience. He is trying to convince his colleagues that his knowledge is extensive and scientifically founded. This is the wrong audience and the wrong target for a 'how-to' book.

Wrong Source
This is the other direction of wrong target. Information taken from wrong source, orders taken from the wrong source, gifts or materiel taken from wrong source all add up to eventual confusion and possible trouble.

News: It's a well known fact to journalists that they have to check their sources. They wouldn't use statements from a plumber they found in the phone-book if they were writing about city hall politics.

World of spies: To rely on data from an enemy can be deadly. The whole operation of double agents is to appear to be a 'right source' and then plant misleading information. They are obviously 'wrong source'.
Accepting gifts from enemies, or accepting gifts as bribes, can be risky business.
Buying medicine through mail order or second hand can be 'wrong source' as little is known about the supplier and no information or medical advice are available.

In intelligence you have
to make sure you don't
   rely on a 'Wrong Source'.

Astrology: astrologists insist the stars determine ones fate. They overlook the fact that the persons' own actions and earthly things are what is important. The stars seem a wrong source for people's fate (this is of course hard to prove conclusively).

Astrologists were
very influential people at
   certain points in history.

Contrary Facts
Two or more data that can't both be true means 'contrary facts'. At least one of them is false. It's a type of 'false data' but which one is false still has to be determined.

How-to book: on page 50 it says: the cost of building the kitchen is 8,000 dollars.
Ten pages later it says: the cost of building the kitchen is 1,500 dollars. Obviously one of the statements is false. You have to sort out which one.

Intelligence: One report says the enemy has an army of 10,000 men. Another report says the enemy has an army of 50,000 men. Contrary facts.

In court: most court cases is a process of what to believe and what not. Two witnesses may say the opposite of each other and present contrary facts. The judge or jury has to try to sort it out.

When you have
'Contrary Facts' at least
one of the 'facts' is false.

Added Time
Using much more time than estimated or reasonable is the out-point of added time. It's the opposite of 'dropped time'. Something that should be easy to do takes 'forever'.

In how-to book: the book documents the house can be built in 3 months by 3 people. It takes one builder 22 months to build with 4 helpers. The question is, "What were they doing for 22 months!?"

Not knowing how
to type can add a lot
   of time to a simple job.

Education: a young man is studying to become an engineer. He gets flunked two semesters in a row but decides to try once more at another college. Endless time is added to his studies.
Medicine: a patient is expected to recover from a broken leg in 4 weeks. 3 months later he still hasn't recovered. This is added time. Something is wrong.

Added Inapplicable Data
When the data is in no way applicable to the scene or situation and is added it is a definite out-point. It has to be inapplicable data: the data itself does not apply to the subject at hand. Just plain adding data is not necessarily an out-point. It may be someone being thorough.

How-to book: the author suddenly has several chapters on politics; his favorite subject. This is completely off the subject of building houses.

In conversation: you ask somebody if he got the work done. He starts to explain how his wife is doing, how sick he was the other day, etc. He is trying to throw you off and not give you a straight answer by adding inapplicable data endlessly. You get suspicious.

Even buying or keeping a
lot of things one doesn't
need are examples of
   'Added Inapplicable Data'.

Incorrectly Included Datum
A datum from one class of data is included wrongly in another class of data; there is an incorrectly included datum.

Building a house: electrical appliances from camping are used to equip the kitchen with. They run on 12 volts, not 110 Volts or 220 Volts as appliances do. They blow up right away when hooked up.

Employment: an man looking for work insists upon getting a job as a printer because he knows the governor. It may work in the situation, but would be inapplicable to how good a printer he is. The relevant data are his qualifications, experience, and general character.

The cubes don't fit in with the lamps. Also, if they
were on the floor in the living room they would be a hazard.
They would be 'inapplicable' and out of place in that environment.

As you can see from the above list of examples many of the situations could be classified under several headlines. Out-points are these odd facts and phenomena that stick out. It is what a good detective has developed a nose for. The clues he is looking for to solve the mystery. They tell the investigator that something is wrong and he better take a closer look. He uses the trail of out-points to find out what is really going on. It is a tool of any type of investigation.

In a workplace you could spot all these out-points in existence. Each out-point found could be assigned to who was responsible for it. If a great many out-points can be seen to be generated by one person this person is said to be the "Who" for the non-optimum situation. He needs to be educated in what to do or be fired and things will improve.

In choosing a textbook you can use the same system. If one textbook has many out-points you don't want to rely on it. You find another one or find additional information elsewhere so you get the right picture and achieve your Ideal Scene in education.

Plus-points

We had the definition: Plus-points are indicators of something right. It's an element of the Ideal Scene. It's data that are in good order; there is something right about them. They are part of or help to obtain the Ideal Scene as they align with the purpose or goal pursued.

In other words plus-points are the opposite of out-points. They are used and classified in a similar manner as out-point; but here we are isolating the positive aspects of the situation, body of data, or activity.

The list of plus-points are:

(1) Related facts known (all relevant facts in hand).
(2) Events in correct sequence (events in actual sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
(3) Time noted (when and for how long is properly noted).
(4) Data proven factual (data must be factual, which is to say, true and valid).
(5) Correct relative importance (the important and unimportant are correctly sorted out).
(6) Expected time period (events occurring or done at expected time).
(7) Adequate data (no sectors of omitted data that would influence the situation).
(8) Applicable data (the data applies to the situation and not something else).
(9) Correct source (not wrong source).
(10) Correct target (not going in some direction that would be wrong for the situation).
(11) Data in same classification (data from two or more different classes of material not introduced as the same class).
(12) Identities are identical (not similar or different).
(13) Similarities are similar (not identical or different).
(14) Differences are different (not made to be identical or similar).

The last 3 listed do not have an exact counterpart in the out-points so we will briefly comment on these:

Intelligence and the ability to evaluate depend upon the ability to see identical objects or data as identical; similar objects or data as similar; and completely different objects and data as different. The ability to perceive and differentiate is what makes a person a good investigator and skilled evaluator of data.

Shapes (and data) are identical, similar, or different.
The ability to perceive and recognize what is what is
the basic ability used by an investigator or evaluator.
It is also used in IQ tests.

Summary
The more plus-points you find in your study materials and the less out-points the more useful they will be to you.

Drills can be developed to train a student to evaluate data along these lines. The student can be made to analyze a text in writing or it can be done in a coaching session. One student reads a paragraph to his twin as in coaching theory. The coach asks if the section expresses a basic law, just an incidental fact, example, opinion or just a filler. Does it contain any of the out-points or plus-points? By analyzing pieces of text in great detail along the lines of this chapter the student's ability to evaluate a text is greatly heightened.

Finding misunderstood words is a valid method when it comes to ensuring a text is fully duplicated and not misunderstood in any way. It is however obvious that Word Clearing does not go into the quality of data communicated in a text. Therefore it has its limitations. Word Clearing is obviously only intended to repair a bad transmission of data, much as you adjust the antenna on a TV set until picture and sound come in loud and clear. What programming the TV station has chosen to bring is an entirely different story. In other words, the data themselves are not evaluated in Word Clearing, neither is the source-point (speaker or textbook writer). Therefore the evaluation of the data is the next and more important step. it's done once the sources of lack of duplication and misunderstandings are rooted out.

You study to find the truth in the area and to be able to apply what you learn. When you have rooted out all the sources of misunderstandings and have a clear transmission of data, the show can begin. You can start to evaluate the data. If you can evaluate the quality, relative importances, and applicability of the data you study, you stand a much better chance of succeeding.

Purpose and Evaluation
It all comes down to "purpose". "Purpose" is the driving force and yard stick behind all this. "Purpose" determines what the Ideal Scene is. Anything that doesn't add up to this is a distraction or an out-point. Anything that helps the purpose is a plus-point. What the right amount of significance-doingness-mass is in a given study or education is also derived from the purpose. Relative importances and applicability are derived from the purpose that drives an activity as well.

The short version of all this, the one datum you use to evaluate all the other types of data against, is thus: Purpose!