Sam Whitfield

Data Analyst & Scoring Lead · BuyingBench

Sam owns BuyingBench's scoring formula and the charts that make our verdicts legible. Every category test starts with Sam building the scoring rubric — which dimensions matter, how they weight, and where the cutoffs fall between Recommended and Mixed Results. When you see a Bench Score, Sam signed off on it.

scoring methodology data analysis category testing comparison charts
Editorial disclosure: Sam Whitfield is a BuyingBench editorial contributor. Every article published under this byline states the sources behind it and whether the product was purchased or physically tested. More about our process.

Tests by Sam Whitfield

Stainless steel shower squeegee resting against a glass shower door

Best Shower Squeegee for Glass Doors

A stainless-handle squeegee, a 10-inch bestseller, and a no-drill silicone squeegee compared on blade material, mount style, and streak performance, using manufacturer specifications and aggregated buyer feedback — not an in-house lab test.

OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Squeegee
HIWARE All-Purpose Squeegee (10 Inches)
GÜTEWERK Silicone Squeegee, No-Drill 3-in-1 Mount (9 Inches)

HomeBuying Guide

8.8/10 top score

3 min read

How Sam’s scores work

A Bench Score isn’t a vibe. It’s the output of a written rubric: build, performance, value, and ease-of-use each contribute a weighted number, and the overall rolls up from there. Sam owns that rubric — which dimensions matter for which category, how they weight, and where the cutoff sits between Recommended and Mixed Results.

What Sam won’t publish

  • A verdict that doesn’t match its own score
  • A scoring dimension that can’t be measured the same way twice
  • A chart that hides a weakness by picking a favorable axis

If a score looks generous, Sam’s job is to walk back to the dimensions and show where it came from.