Why this question works
- It shifts talk from opinion to observable facts.
- It reduces bias by inviting outside checks such as data, documents, and reproducible methods.
- It protects time and money by testing ideas before you commit.
- It builds credibility since decisions can be explained and audited.
When to use it
- New proposals, product ideas, and strategy shifts
- Health advice, training programs, and supplements
- News headlines, social posts, and viral charts
- Hiring, performance reviews, and vendor pitches
- Personal choices about money, habits, and relationships
How to ask it well
- Be specific
What study, dataset, or track record supports this - Ask for the comparison
Compared with what baseline or alternative - Ask about size and certainty
How big is the effect and how certain are we - Ask about independence
Who produced the evidence and who verified it - Ask for the method
How was this measured and could someone else replicate it
What to listen for
- Clear sources you can check
- Absolute numbers plus denominators, not only percentages
- Time windows and baselines that make comparisons fair
- Limitations and uncertainty ranges, not only best cases
- Replication or real world performance, not only one study
Everyday examples
Work and money
- We should buy this tool. Is there evidence that teams like ours ship faster after adopting it
- This ad channel is hot. What is the cost per acquisition compared with last quarter and with email
- Our process is slow. Where are the timestamps that show the actual bottleneck
Health and fitness
- This supplement boosts energy. Is there a randomized, controlled study showing a meaningful effect in healthy adults
- Fasted cardio burns more fat. Show me a program-level outcome, not just a single workout metric
- A trainer says 30 minutes daily fixes back pain. What population, what exercises, and what success rate
Learning and habits
- I learn better at night. Does my study log or quiz scores support that
- Pomodoro helps focus. Do task completion times improve in my own records
- Daily journaling improves mood. Do mood ratings change after two weeks of use
Media and conversation
- The city is getting less safe. What are the year-over-year rates and how do they compare with neighboring cities
- This food is toxic. What dose, what study design, and what risk size in humans
How to manage resistance
- Keep tone neutral and curious. I want to be sure we make the best call. What evidence do we have
- Offer to help find data. Let me pull last quarter’s numbers so we can check
- Separate people from claims. I respect your experience. Let us test the idea on a small scale
- Suggest a low-risk pilot. One-week trial with a clear metric and decision rule
Good and bad answers
Good
- Here are three quarters of data with a clear baseline and a 12 percent absolute improvement. Code and sheet in the folder.
- Two independent studies show a moderate effect. One failed to replicate in athletes. Our pilot will target the subgroup that benefited.
Bad
- Everyone knows this works.
- A friend at another company said it was great.
- The chart looks convincing but has no source and no scale.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Moving the goalposts after you see the data
- Treating one anecdote as proof
- Using only relative changes without base rates
- Trusting only confirmatory sources
- Skipping a baseline, which makes improvement impossible to judge
A simple 7-day practice
- Day 1: pick one claim you hear and ask for the source.
- Day 2: convert one percentage you see into a frequency such as 1 in 10.
- Day 3: add a baseline to a metric you track.
- Day 4: run a tiny A/B test on a workflow or habit.
- Day 5: write a decision rule before you look at results.
- Day 6: share findings with a colleague and invite critique.
- Day 7: log what changed and one improvement for next week.
Closing
Asking Is there evidence to support this claim turns debate into discovery. It clarifies what is real, surfaces uncertainty, and guides smarter action. Use it often, pair it with fair tests, and let measurements carry more weight than opinions.
