Comment by tptacek

They didn't claim "a thousand instances". They claim 1000 hours of field study. That number shocks people, but over the course of a year, it's a half-time job for a researcher, and so your argument is left at "that seems like a dumb thing for a researcher to allocate half their time to". I mean, sure, I agree, but so what? That's not a very interesting argument, or a damning one.