Cybercrime surveys are riddled with statistical distortions, says Microsoft research paper. Small numbers of unusual answers can hugely distort the result if this result is taken to be representative of a whole population’s experience. In sex surveys, most men and women tell the truth when asked how many partners they have slept with, but a small number (especially men) are inclined to exaggerate to such an extent that it can badly skew mean statistics in ways that are difficult to detect. Survey science, then, has become a tool of marketing and PR rather than research.”]