Seidenfeld, Teddy (1998) P's in a Pod: some recipes for cooking Mendel's data. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In 1936 R.A.Fisher asked the pointed question, "Has Mendel's Work Been Rediscovered?" The query was intended to open for discussion whether someone altered the data in Gregor Mendel's classic 1866 research report on the garden pea, "Experiments in Plant-Hybridization." Fisher concluded, reluctantly, that the statistical counts in Mendel's paper were doctored in order to create a better intuitive fit between Mendelian expected values and observed frequencies. That verdict remains the received view among statisticians, so I believe. Fisher's analysis is a tour de force of so-called "Goodness of Fit" statistical tests using c2 to calculate significance levels, i.e., P-values. In this presentation I attempt a defense of Mendel's report, based on several themes. (1) Mendel's experiments include some important sequential design features that Fisher ignores. (2) Fisher uses particular statistical techniques of Meta-analysis for pooling outcomes from different experiments. These methods are subject to critical debate. and (3) I speculate on a small modification to Mendelian theory that offers some relief from Fisher's harsh conclusion that Mendel's data are too good to be true

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Seidenfeld, Teddy
Keywords:	Mendel's data, data too-good-to-be-true, P-values.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Confirmation/Induction General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Depositing User:	Teddy Seidenfeld
Date Deposited:	19 Feb 2001
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:10
Item ID:	156
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics General Issues > Confirmation/Induction General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Date:	1998
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/156

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