Lies, damn lies and statistics

I expected this to happen even as the shocking result of the UKM survey on 887 high-risk female students in Selangor was announced.

Flashback: On Feb 26, Bernama released the result of the survey by UKM's Children and Youth Psychology specialist Dr Khaidzir Ismail.

His finding was shocking indeed - that all the 887 high-risk female students except for one confessed to have had experienced sex.

Then, as predicted, the condemnations followed. Selangor MB Mohd Khir Toyo led the charge against the survey, saying that his officers had interviewed the survey participants and they found a different result!

Now, two days ago, Bernama ran another report, claiming that there was an "input fault" in the survey. The latest finding is that only three percent of those surveyed had admitted having sexual experience!

The funny thing is that the new result was not announced by the don who conducted the survey but by the Selangor state agency which commissioned it.

Strange indeed. It looks like the state government managed to manipulate the survey results so that its female adolescent students do not look promiscuous and indiscipline.

I wonder if Dr Khaidzir will be thinking of the famous quotation which goes "lies, damn lies and statistics".