Editing Misuse of statistics (section)

===Loaded questions===
{{Main|Loaded question}}
The answers to surveys can often be manipulated by wording the question in such a way as to induce a prevalence towards a certain answer from the respondent. For example, in polling support for a war, the questions:
* Do you support the attempt by the US to bring freedom and democracy to other places in the world?
* Do you support the unprovoked military action by the USA?
will likely result in data skewed in different directions, although they are both polling about the support for the war. A better way of wording the question could be "Do you support the current US military action abroad?" A still more nearly neutral way to put that question is "What is your view about the current US military action abroad?" The point should be that the person being asked has no way of guessing from the wording what the questioner might want to hear.

Another way to do this is to precede the question by information that supports the "desired" answer. For example, more people will likely answer "yes" to the question "Given the increasing burden of taxes on middle-class families, do you support cuts in income tax?" than to the question "Considering the rising federal budget deficit and the desperate need for more revenue, do you support cuts in income tax?"

The proper formulation of questions can be very subtle, but nonetheless can yield significant differences in results. Additionally, the responses to two questions can vary dramatically depending on the order in which they are asked.{{sfn|Kahneman|2013|p=102}} "A survey that asked about 'ownership of stock' found that most Texas ranchers owned stock, though probably not the kind traded on the New York Stock Exchange."{{sfn|Moore|Notz|2006|p= 59}}