Και οι τρεις προτεινόμενες εξηγήσεις είναι λογικές. Ποια είναι η ορθότερη δεν μπορεί να βρεθεί με συζήτηση — θα πρέπει να γίνει στατιστική έρευνα. Αλλά ποιος θα τολμήσει να παραδεχτεί τις παιδοφιλικές του τάσεις και δραστηριότητες; Άρα το μυστήριο θα μείνει.Παρεμπιπτόντως, υπάρχει τρόπος ν’ απαντήσει κανείς σε άβολες ερωτήσεις έτσι ώστε από τις απαντήσεις να είναι δυνατόν να εξαχθεί στατιστικά συμπεράσματα, χωρίς όμως ν’ αποκαλύψει τα μυστικά του! John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy:> Obtaining Personal Information> We ask everyone to take a coin from his or her purse or wallet and direct them to flip it once. Without letting anyone else see the outcome, they should note whether it lands on heads or tails. If the coin lands heads, the person should answer the question honestly: Has he or she ever engaged in the given sexual practice—yes or no? If it comes up tails, the person should simply answer yes.> Thus, a yes response could mean one of two things, one quite innocuous (the coin's landing tails), the other potentially embarrassing (engaging in the sex act). Since the experimenter can't know what yes means, people presumably will be honest.> Let's say that 620 of 1,000 responses are yes. What does this indicate about the percentage of people who engage in the sex act? Approximately 500 of the 1,000 people will answer yes simply because the coin landed tails. That leaves 120 people who answered yes out of the 500 who replied to the question honestly (those whose coins landed heads). Thus, 24 percent (120/500) is the estimate for the percentage of people who engage in the sex act.