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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On the influence of bias and of personal equation in statistics of ill-defined qualities: An experimental study' by George Udny Yule

Reference number: AP/77/1

Date: 1905

Description

Yule writes that his experiment has been 'undertaken to elucidate the real character of such statistics as those of eye-colour, hair-colour, temper, health, etc., which have been given, e. g., by Mr. Galton and by Professor Pearson. The statistics are, it should be noted, not merely statistics of qualities, but of ill-defined qualities, the only guidance to the use of the terms of classification being—with some exceptions—common usage. Strictly speaking we must remember that data so collected are statistics, not of qualities themselves, but of names assigned thereto.'

Annotations in ink throughout.

Subject: Statistics

Received 4 November 1905. Read 7 December 1905. Communicated by O [Olaus Magnus Friedrich Erdmann] Henrici.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 77 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society A as 'On the influence of bias and of personal equation in statistics of Ill-defined qualities: An experimental study'.

A version of this paper was published by Yule in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: Yule, George Udny. 'On the Influence of Bias and of Personal Equation in Statistics of Ill-Defined Qualities.' The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 36 (1906), pp. 325-381.

Reference number
AP/77/1
Earliest possible date
1905
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
101 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

George Udny Yule

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Citation

George Udny Yule, Unpublished paper, 'On the influence of bias and of personal equation in statistics of ill-defined qualities: An experimental study' by George Udny Yule, 1905, AP/77/1, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_77_1/unpublished-paper-on-the-influence-of-bias-and-of-personal-equation-in-statistics-of-ill-defined-qualities-an-experimental-study-by-george-udny-yule, accessed on 21 January 2025

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