A statistical model to explain the Mendel-Fisher controversy

DOI10.1214/10-STS342MaRDI QIDQ906526zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Ana M. Pires, João A. Branco

Publication date 22 January 2016

Published in Statistical Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2975, https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1300108237

zbMATH Keywords

chi-square testsdistribution of \(p\)-valuesethicsgeneticsminimum distance estimates

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) History of statistics (62-03) Parametric hypothesis testing (62F03) Design of statistical experiments (62Kxx) Applications of statistics to biology and medical sciences; meta analysis (62P10)

Abstract: In 1866 Gregor Mendel published a seminal paper containing the foundations of modern genetics. In 1936 Ronald Fisher published a statistical analysis of Mendel's data concluding that "the data of most, if not all, of the experiments have been falsified so as to agree closely with Mendel's expectations." The accusation gave rise to a controversy which has reached the present time. There are reasonable grounds to assume that a certain unconscious bias was systematically introduced in Mendel's experimentation. Based on this assumption, a probability model that fits Mendel's data and does not offend Fisher's analysis is given. This reconciliation model may well be the end of the Mendel--Fisher controversy.

Recommendations

• The questions of fit in the gregor mendel controversy
• Fisher's Contributions to Genetics and Heredity, with Special Emphasis on the Gregor Mendel Controversy
• Modelling Populations: Pearson and Fisher on Mendelism and Biometry
• Karl pearson's mathematization of inheritance: From ancestral heredity to Mendelian genetics (1895–1909)
• Der historische Streit zwischen R. A. Fisher und J. Neyman oder: Ein Sittengemälde aus der Blütezeit der englischen Schule für Statistik. (The historical controversy between R. A. Fisher and J. Neyman or: a portrayal of customs belonging to the blossom

Cites work

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• The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for Goodness of Fit
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Cited in

(10)

• Sums of possibly associated multivariate indicator functions: the Conway-Maxwell-multinomial distribution
• Kolmogorov's criteria and the verification of Mendel's heredity laws
• Modelling Populations: Pearson and Fisher on Mendelism and Biometry
• THE GENETIC VERSUS THE AXIOMATIC METHOD: RESPONDING TO FEFERMAN 1977
• The questions of fit in the gregor mendel controversy
• R. A. Fisher's Contributions to Genetical Statistics
• Frequency anomalies pertaining to Mendel's second experiment
• Models and Statistical Inference: The Controversy between Fisher and Neyman–Pearson
• Fisher's Contributions to Genetics and Heredity, with Special Emphasis on the Gregor Mendel Controversy
• Meta-analysis of genuine and fake p-values

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Uses Software

• R

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