One of the challenges for any problem solver and decision maker is dealing with cheaters – those who act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, or to intentionally avoid something undesirable by luck or skill.
One of the first things the master decision maker must explore when solving complex and extreme problems is the quality of the data they must work with. Often what is discovered is that the data they must organize, explore and process has been “Doctored”. Data Doctoring is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of information relevant to creating a statistical report.
In my work in game based thinking we often speak of “cheaters”, those in a game who know the rules and also know that they do not have the skill, resources or the ability to win without breaking the rules. Individual’s cheat for one of three reasons 1. Evil intention, 2. Untended ignorance on the part of an otherwise intelligent person 3. Stupidity.
If you do not know how to deal with cheaters in life you will find yourself at a great disadvantage.
I was working with my stress management and chair massage team at a conference on statistics. When it comes to statistics cheating data doctoring takes place so that one can do away with an unpleasant or controversial number. This is especially so when dealing with a policy within a bureaucracy that is extremely unpopular or which brings into question the statisticians’ professional integrity.
Data doctoring is done to hide essential facts and the truth in everything from medical billing, to military supply purchases, to growth measures in industrial production.
“Data Doctoring” is a term that has become ever more popular as economists explore the ways that many large organizations as well as government’s announce the health of their economies when those economies are anything but healthy.
Of course many multi-national corporations and governments do this.