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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2006-08 > 1155286094-01


From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Matching
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 04:48:14 EDT


In a message dated 8/10/2006 9:15:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:

> I'm not clear why mutation rates should be different outside father-son
> rates. Please explain.

FTDNA bases their rates on an in-house study of pedigrees submitted by
surname project administrators, who were solicited explicitly to participate in a
study on mutation rates.


http://web.archive.org/web/20041009224127/http://www.familytreedna.com/mutation_study.html

Later, there was an open announcement about the study

http://www.familytreedna.com/facts_genes.asp?act=show&nk=2.10

My best guess is that the final submissions were not a random sample. I can
easily imagine how projects with no (or few) mutations might think their data
wouldn't be interesting for a study on mutation rates. This sort of response
bias would be difficult to control in a study relying on volunteers, who
undoubtedly had to spend quite a bit of time preparing their descendancy charts in a
form where transmission events could be counted. There have been no formal
publications outlining methods, however, so that's just my take on it.

Ann Turner

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