/sō-shəl sī-ən(t)s nəm-bər/
[IBM]
n. A statistic that is content-free, or nearly so. A measure derived via methods of questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature. Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom much better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. management loves them.
See also numbers, math-out, pretty pictures.