Famously*, while giving the origins of the stolen plans for the second Death Star, Mon Mothma sadly reported that “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.” The line has become something of a minor hit in certain internet circles, as a quick google search reveals. Naturally, this line gives rise to an interrogative spin-off: “How many Bothans died to bring us this information?” I think this would make an excellent scale to measure the empirical content of a research project, article, dissertation, etc. For example, a journal article based on a pilot interview study might have required the death of 10 Bothans**, while a project that surveyed 1000 migrants at the US-Mexico Border for a dissertation project could have required the death of 50 or 100 Bothans. We could call this measure something like “The Unified Bothan Information Scale”, although I would accept sillier names.

Ok, clearly it is past my bedtime.

*That is, famously to anyone who has spent hours playing Star Wars related games, reading Star Wars related books, and reading Wookiepedia to make fun of while participating in Star Wars fandom.
**Perhaps, for qualitative work, N_Bothans ~ N_sample? Presumably for quantitative work, the relationship would be concave, as the information content of surveys diminishes, as well as the number of Bothans who have to die to bring you a larger N.