Question

How are data and opinion different? If you were making a decision about your business, which would you want your management team to use when giving you a recommendation? Why?

Answer 1

Well, it's a subjective question but i would try to make it more general as possible.

An opinion is an expression of a person's feelings that cannot be proven. Opinions can be based on facts or emotions and sometimes they are meant to deliberately mislead others.

Wheras Data is factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.

Modern marketers know the value of data in understanding their customers. It can be the foundation of a great strategy, which can lead to great work. Yet savvy marketers know that, while it might be the beginning of a roadmap, data isn’t the only thing needed to reach the promised land of customer engagement and loyalty. The paradox of data is that it can make us less able to make decisions. Too much of it can be overwhelming, leading to analysis paralysis; we can become dependent on it in a way that inhibits our ability to act decisively. The paradox of data as it applies to marketers is that, as we come to know more and more about our customers’ habits, interests, and buying behavior, we can lose our connection to them as human beings who are not just consumers.

As a famous saying goes like -
Without data, you’re just a person with an opinion.”

It seems pretty true because data contains opinions but opinions don't contain data.

Data always helps us to derive meaningful insights from it but opinions may Or may not and which is why I would always choose data based decisions in my business .

You can rely on data, you can easily collect(like by making a questionnaire) and then you can arrange and analyse it and finally give significant interpretations from it but this is not the case with opinions.

Opinions are just opinions, they can mislead the organization.

So i hope I answered your question well. Please do like it. Thanks