It is fine to use Family Tree hints. Ancestry figures those out based on the information we've entered into the tree. It's basically what we'd get if we did all the individual searches, just faster. The Suggested Records come from research that other people have done. Therefore, they will only be suggested if someone else has done research on the family. It adds bias, I think, because there is not an equal chance for all of our soldiers to have these suggested records. If there's not an equal chance that we'll find information for all soldiers, then we are adding bias to our sample if we use that information. Please don't ask me to try and explain it, because I really don't understand. I am not one of the brainy economists.
What you really need to remember is NEVER use the Suggested Records box to add records to your tree.
Good to know. I'll take your word on it adding bias (taken from the word of the brainy economists).
ReplyDeleteYou only see those suggested links if someone has already done work for the family. It bias's the sample against those soldiers who have not had genealogical work done for them. There are many implications--for example, think of how many LDS families have had work done--your sample would be selected toward Mormon families.
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