Manipulating data, and incorrect data

I hope that you all know how easy it is for government and corporations to manipulate data for their own purposes. Particularly at election time, we need to keep that right up front in our minds. That manipulation is most commonly done by taking figures out of context, by emphasizing only the sections of a report that are favourable to your viewpoint, and by wording surveys so you get the result you want. Individuals can also mess with data, though. Look at this morning’s “election-forecast” game at Canada.com – the Yukon is solidly going to vote for the Bloc Quebecois!! 🙂