Stated Limitations

Stated limitations are the constraints an analyst discloses without being asked: what the data covers, what it leaves out, and which questions it cannot settle. They belong in the presentation, not held in reserve for questions.

The reason is about what a finding licenses. Search volume for a term measures interest in that term — not purchases, not intent, and not the specific use anyone had in mind. A normalized index shows relative movement rather than counts. None of that makes an analysis wrong; all of it bounds what may be concluded, and the bound is what a decision-maker needs in order to size the risk they are taking.

State the relevant limits before a decision is made. That lets the audience judge where the finding applies and what remains unknown, without having to infer its scope from answers to later questions.

Worth naming: the period covered and what falls outside it; the geography or segment, and who is missing; how the metric was defined and whether that definition changed mid-series; what is measured directly versus what stands in for something else; and which alternative explanation has not been ruled out.

Correlation deserves explicit treatment. If two series move together, say that, and say what establishing direction would require. Stating limits is not hedging — hedging dilutes a claim, while a stated limitation keeps the claim sharp and marks where it stops.