Why we ask for units every single time, with three examples of what goes wrong — what changed since

The question in the title: Why we ask for units every single time, with three examples of what goes wrong — what changed since I will give what I have already checked below so nobody repeats it.

Counting it rather than describing it, because the count is the part that can be argued with.

13 instances over 22 weeks, recorded the same way each time, 5 of them different enough from the rest that I have set them aside and said so.

That is the whole dataset. The question in the title is what it does and does not support.

Lab result questions: state the result, the reference interval, and what else is on the same panel. A single flag on a single draw is usually uninformative without context.

A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.

Avoid "any advice?" at the end. It is so generic that people do not know which part of the post it refers to. Pick the specific part and ask that specific question instead.

Anyone who has looked at this more carefully, please correct the record.

Everything in post #3 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.

Quantities without units are the single commonest reason a question sits unanswered. "Two and a half" is not a dose, a volume or a concentration until you say which.

That is one dataset and I would not build a rule on it.

Narrowing post #3, because the general version has more than one answer.

Say what you have already ruled out. "It is not the diluent because I tried a second vial from a different box" saves three replies suggesting the diluent.

The answer changed when I changed how I was measuring, which was informative.

Nothing to add, except that this is the answer I would give if asked.

A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.

Post the arithmetic you already did. Half the questions here are answered by someone spotting which line of your working is wrong, and that is impossible if you only give the answer you got.

Taking post #8 at face value and following it one step further.

If your question has a deadline — a parcel in transit, a delivery you have to accept or refuse — say so. People answer differently when there is a clock on it.

That is all the detail I have. Someone else will have more.

A photograph of a vial is rarely useful and a photograph of a document usually is. Redact the identifiers before you post either.

Someone will know this better than I do and I hope they say so.

Nobody minds being asked to explain a term. The people who use them most are the quickest to define them, and a question that stops to ask is usually a question that gets a better answer.

Units. Everything needs units. This is why we ask every single time. I have seen the same arithmetic done three different ways depending on whether the person was thinking mg/mL or mg/dose or something else entirely. Stating the units makes that impossible.