I just had a most interesting experience.
My telephone rang, and much to my surprise it was a survey company calling during the dinner hour. Normally this would meet with a standard ending, but this time the woman had a nice Brit accent and was able to hold my attention. She rhymed off the company that she worked for, and stated that it was "one of the largest public survey companies in Canada" but I'll be buggered if I can remember who it was. What was held my interest was that she asked me if I would be interested in conducting a survey with regards to Canada's current in involvement in Afghanistan:
A. "Why, absolutely"
Q. "Would you say that you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat don't support or strongly don't support Canada's mission in Afghanistan to fight terrorism and elements of Al Qaeda?"
A. "Strongly support"
Q. "Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat don't support or strongly don't support the statement that the mission is of vital importance..."
At that point, there was a clear noise of another line cutting in and the other end was muted. The muting sound stopped briefly, and I heard the woman's voice say "Alright then..." and the phone hung up abruptly. I was on my land line, so there is no dead battery excuse for a cordless hang up.
I have every belief that because I indicated that I "strongly support" our troops in the Sandbox, a supervisor intervened and made sure that my unhelpful opinion did not skew their desired stats objective, and I was ejected from the survey. When the next opinion "stats" come out, if the name of the company is mentioned, I will be able to remember it. I would also be very interested in finding out who commissioned the survey.
I was curious if anyone else has had a similar occurrence. I know that stats can be tailored to suit the person who is trying to use them, but this is ridiculous.