Ethnology and Personal Histories

Everywhere today I see people saying: This is so and so according to anecdotal evidence. I know 'anecdote' to mean something funny on the street in way. This is wrong since in Anthropology 'anecdotal' evidence is considered a Personal History in Ethnology context where the Ethnologist goes to village, community, or neightborhood and starts learning culture and gathering personal histories of many and different people. Usually, the Ethnologist will spend a year since the year is a cycle for many societies. If you want to study the culture of the World Cup for soccer you might need to spend 4 years tought.
The point is that anecdotal evidence doesn't mean it is unreliable or somehow in the amusement section of evidence. It usually if done right a personal history can be descriptive and reliable just as any type of factual evidence and whatnot.