Before You Start, Educate Yourself on Basic Research Techniques

I grew tired of people trying to tell me I just didn't know enough to understand their superior minds at work. I, being just a simple man, just couldn't comprehend their DEEPER thoughts at work. That's why I created this blog entry.

Research

A million people do “research” online. So many don’t know what they are doing. Here is a quick study of the principles I use that keep me grounded.

Learn these concepts.

1. Reliability -- the degree to which the result of a measurement, calculation, or specification can be depended on to be accurate.

2. Validity -- Validity refers to how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure

3. Occam’s Razor – the principle (attributed to William of Occam) that in explaining a thing no more assumptions should be made than are necessary. The principle is often invoked to defend reductionism or nominalism.

4. Proof – the action or process of establishing the truth of a statement.

5. An abundance of circumstantial evidence – Circumstantial evidence – Wikipedia -- https://en.wikipedia.org -- Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact—such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. – end of Wikipedia – So an abundance of such evidence would be enough evidence to convict a person of a crime, but it could fall short of actual proof.

6. To fall short of actual proof -- means /=> say you are trying to prove x=y. Then we fall short of actually proving x=y if we can show there exist some unique value for x such that x does not equal y. To prove or disprove a thing is not easy.

7. Standard Deviation -- If your research includes analyzing quantifiable data, know a little about mathematics, including Statistical and Probability Theory. Minimum knowledge must include ho to derive standard deviation. Go to the link below and study the variables to learn how to solve the equation.

Standard Deviation

Standard Deviation Formulas (mathsisfun.com)

​σ /=> represents standard deviation

N /=> represents the total number of data points.

Σ /=> means "the sum of"

The lower case "i" below the epsilon symbol is a discrete number. The entire phrase is read; "The sum of all values from 1 to N" (1, 2, 3, . . ., N)

μ /=> the "mean" or average value

χ /=> The actual value of the measured data point

To calculate the standard deviation of those numbers:

To Discover the Standard Deviation . . .

1. Work out the Mean (the simple average of the numbers) 2. Then for each number: subtract the Mean and square the result 3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences. 4. Take the square root of that and we are done!

EXAMPLE --

Say we have a bunch of numbers like 9, 2, 5, 4, 12, 7, 8, 11.

STEP 1. Since the mean is the average, simply add them together and divide by "N". This gives us 9+2+5+4+12+7+8+11=58. Since there are 8 numbers, our "N" is 8. So (58/8)=7.25 /=> 7.25 is our mean.

STEP 2. subtract the mean from each number and square the result. So . . .

9.00-7.25= 1.75.

2.00-7.25= -5.25 5.00-7.25= -2.25 4.00-7.25= -3.25

12.00-7.25=4.75

7.00-7.25= -0.25

8.00-7.25= 0. 75

11.00-7.25=3.75

Now we need to square the results

1.75*1.75= 1.5625

-5.25*-5.25= 27.5625

-2.25*-2.25= 5.0625

-3.25*-3.25=10.5625

4.75*4.75= 18.0625

-0.25*-0.25= 0.0625

0.75*0.75= 0.5625

3.25*3.25= 10.5625

This is tedious, but it is also very simple. It only requires adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. By the end of the third grade, all children have mastered these skills.

STEP 3. Then work out the mean of those squared differences. This is just like STEP 1.

1.5625+27.5625+5.0625+10.5625+18.0625+0.0625+0.5625+10.5625= 74.

STEP 4. Take the square root of that and we are done!

Every good researcher will follow and be familiar with these SEVEN concepts. Be wary of any researchers that don’t understand the seven concepts listed above. And the square root of 74=> 8.6023252670426267717294735350497 -- qed. (quod erat demonstrandum -- "thus it is shown", or "thus it is demonstrated" -- I have just demonstrated how to find a standard deviation. It is used in all kinds of research to discover how compact your data is.

Example of determining if your hypothesis is both reliable and valid

My MDLP-World-22 option on gedmatch.com gave me a substantial ancestry from India, at least 12.5 percent! That is 1/8th! That’s a great grandparent! But all my great-grandparents were born in America. So I know that part of their algorithm is not reliable. In fact I have only one g-g-g-g-grandpa on one side of my family was born in Europe – Nevil Wayland Sr, was born in Cashel, County Tiperrary, Ireland in 1745. All my other ancestors were born in America by 1745. On the gedmatch website they leave an option where you can write the creators of their free data analysis software. I emailed them and asked them the following --

I had told him I am mostly European, but results showed I have some African and Native American autosomal DNA. I gave him my gedmatch number showing this. I asked; “My question is this -- why does my admixture show so much ancestry from the Indian sub-continent? I suspect Native American mixed with African and Caucasian might "appear" similar, in a genetic since, to the DNA of the Indian subcontinent . . .”

I received a short reply, saying; “I guess that your Indian score is just a noise (for some unknown reasons MDLP World tends to give some Indian % to persons of European descent).”

So he was admitting there were “wrinkles” in his algorithm that need to be ironed out. But I have shown parts of his algorithm measuring percentage of ancestry from India is not reliable. Thus the claim of “Gypsy” ancestry for my Melungeon ancestors is not valid (which means true), either. Again -- qed.

Example of Occam's Razor

Everything about the Melungeon families found on the Tennesssee-Virginia border can be explained by us having English/Scots-Irish or African and Native American ancestry as well. To complicate this by adding Gypsy, Portuguese, Turkish, or Arabic ancestry in large numbers is simply unnecessary and doesn't agree with known historical facts. Efforts to find facts on this topic are inconclusive. So using Occam's Razor, researchers need to "shave away" those unproven allegations until their claims can be proven.

The same is true with the origins of the word "melangeons". This IS a French word meaning "we mix". Any Arabic or Turkish or Angolan or Portuguese word that looks a little bit similar, but is NOT the EXACT same word, must, by using the principle of Occam's Razor, must be shaved off, as well.

Conclusion I use the above as a guideline to keep my research grounded in reason. Please keep these six principles in mind as you look through the blog entries. To enter the blogs, please scroll to the top of the page, then to the right, and click on “blog”. A blog essay will come up with a menu at the top of the page. Check out that menu. All the blog entries are listed by topic. Enter the topic that interests you, and the blog entries under that topic will be listed.