A hallmark of practical, local knowledge, as James Scott has noted, is that “it is as economical and accurate as it needs to be, no more and no less, for addressing the problem at hand.”6 By contrast, the degree of numerical precision promised by metrics may be far greater than is required by actual practitioners, and attaining that precision requires an expenditure of time and effort that may not be worthwhile. The quest for precision may therefore be wasteful, and resented for that reason by those required to sacrifice their time and ingenuity.
