How to manipulate polls

Abstract

Every time you open a newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV, or browse the Internet, you will see some numbers and stats. All these numbers come from different sources like a national statistics office, an organization, or an individual that has conducted research. These numbers can give a brief overview of the world surrounding us and are often used by people or organizations to strengthen their message. The way experts collect all the raw data to come up with all these clear-cut numbers is an important part of the process. In this respect, an experiment has been designed to see how a person can manipulate a poll to obtain the desired numbers and a lot of ways have been found.