"DNA Fingerprinting" Redivivus

Yesterday's talk [Feb. 19, 2001], "DNA Fingerprinting," by the University of Chicago's Michael Linacre at the LSU HSC Dept of Genetics was attended by more than 25 people. Linacre presented a basic contrast of the differing purposes motivating the use of mathematical models in statistical and measurement research. He passed around a Ptolemaic astrolabe [courtesy of Tom O'Neill] as an illustrative artifact of the days when Ptolemy's descriptively superior account of the heavenly bodies was held also to be theoretically superior to the Copernican account. Most statistical studies of test, survey, and genetic data are similar to the Ptolemaic system in achieving accurate data description, but will eventually fall to theoretically superior measurement accounts that support enhanced predictive capacities, just as Ptolemy's system fell when confronted with Newton's laws of motion.

Mike then recapitulated his analysis of Geyer & Thompson's (1992) DNA fingerprinting data [RMT 7:1, 274], showing how a probabilistic conjoint (Rasch) measurement model for genetic diversity can provide a measure of relatedness. Mike also showed the results of his recent examination of data from a popular textbook comparing genetic frequencies across different global regions. In taking up this topic, with no prior knowledge of the personal connection or the work that was done, Mike cited a researcher (Morton) with whom Bronya Keats, Head of the Dept. of Genetics, had worked, and furthermore took the analysis in the same direction that Keats and Morton had 25 years previously when working with similar data. Of special interest in this work was the use of "lods," log-odds units, known in Rasch measurement as logits. After the seminar, Keats provided Linacre with reprints of the published work she did with Morton; these articles include tables of data which Linacre plans to evaluate in a Rasch context. Stay posted for a comparison of lods and logits ....

William P. Fisher, Jr.

Fisher, W.P. Jr. (2001) "DNA Fingerprinting" Redivivus. Rasch Measurement Transactions 14:4 p.785

"DNA Fingerprinting" Redivivus. Fisher, W.P. Jr. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 2001, 14:4 p.785

Rasch Publications
Rasch Measurement Transactions (free, online)	Rasch Measurement research papers (free, online)	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Applying the Rasch Model 3rd. Ed., Bond & Fox	Best Test Design, Wright & Stone
Rating Scale Analysis, Wright & Masters	Introduction to Rasch Measurement, E. Smith & R. Smith	Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement, Thomas Eckes	Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, George Engelhard, Jr.	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers, Rita Green
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Journal of Applied Measurement	Rasch models for measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences, Boone, Stave, Yale
in Spanish:	Análisis de Rasch para todos, Agustín Tristán		Mediciones, Posicionamientos y Diagnósticos Competitivos, Juan Ramón Oreja Rodríguez

Forum

Rasch Measurement Forum to discuss any Rasch-related topic

Go to Top of Page
Go to index of all Rasch Measurement Transactions
AERA members: Join the Rasch Measurement SIG and receive the printed version of RMT
Some back issues of RMT are available as bound volumes
Subscribe to Journal of Applied Measurement

Go to Institute for Objective Measurement Home Page. The Rasch Measurement SIG (AERA) thanks the Institute for Objective Measurement for inviting the publication of Rasch Measurement Transactions on the Institute's website, www.rasch.org.

The URL of this page is www.rasch.org/rmt/rmt144j.htm

Website: www.rasch.org/rmt/contents.htm