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R. A. Fisher and his advocacy of randomization

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Abstract

The requirement of randomization in experimental design was first stated by R. A. Fisher, statistician and geneticist, in 1925 in his book Statistical Methods for Research Workers. Earlier designs were systematic and involved the judgment of the experimenter; this led to possible bias and inaccurate interpretation of the data. Fisher’s dictum was that randomization eliminates bias and permits a valid test of significance. Randomization in experimenting had been used by Charles Sanders Peirce in 1885 but the practice was not continued. Fisher developed his concepts of randomizing as he considered the mathematics of small samples, in discussions with “Student,” William Sealy Gosset. Fisher published extensively. His principles of experimental design were spread worldwide by the many “voluntary workers” who came from other institutions to Rothamsted Agricultural Station in England to learn Fisher’s methods.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Lindley Darden for her patience and her continued support, and the editorial staff and anonymous reviewers at the Journal for the History of Biology for their excellent comments. This paper is based upon my dissertation, R. A. Fisher and Randomized Experimental Design, which was supported by National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant No. 0091782.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Delaware Academic Center, Georgetown, DE, 19947, USA

    Nancy S. Hall

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  1. Nancy S. Hall
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Correspondence to Nancy S. Hall.

Appendix

Appendix

Fisher’s voluntary workers at Rothamsted

Person

When

Home

Later institution

E. Somerfield

1923

Dublin

Messrs. A. Guinness & Sons, Ltd.

L. H. C. Tippett

1924–1926

British Cotton Ind. Research Assn.

Shirley Institute, Manchester

Ansell, P. R.

1925

  

T. N. Hoblyn

1926–1927

 

East Malling Fruit Research Institute

Balmukand

1927–1928

Punjab U.

Punjab Agricultural College, India

W. Boehme

1928

Germany

 

J. B. Hutchinson

1928–1929

Trinidad

Empire Cotton Res. Sta., Trinidad; 1933, Inst. of Plant Industry, Indore, Central India

T. W. Simpson

1928–1999

  

Howard Hotelling

1929

California

Stanford University

H. G. Sanders

1929

  

Frances E. Allan

1929–1930

Melbourne U.

Statistician, Council for Sci. and Industrial Research, Canberra

Edgar Anderson

1929–1930

Washington University

Missouri Botanic Garden

R. J. Kalamkar

1929–1932

Nagpur U., India

Asst. Meteorologist, Poona, India

Basil Christidis

1930

 

Plant Breeding Station, Greek Ministry of Ag., Salonika

Alcides Franco

1930

 

Ministry of Ag., Rio de Janeiro

C. H. Goulden

1930

 

Dominion Rust Research Lab., Manitoba Ag. College, Winnipeg

C. H. N. Jackson

1930

Tanganyika

Entomologist, Dept. of Tsetse Research, Tanganyika Territory

J. W. Hopkins

1930–1931

U. of Alberta

Nat. Research Council, Ottawa, Canada

F. R. Immer

1930–1931

St. Paul, Minn.

Cereal Geneticist, USDA, St. Paul, Minn.

A. W. R. Joachim

1930–1931

 

Dept. of Agriculture, Ceylon

A. L. Murray

1930–1931

Dublin

Messrs. A. Guinness & Sons, Ltd.

S. H. Justensen

1931

 

The University, Wageningen, Holland

R. Summerby

1931

 

Agronomy Dept., Macdonald College, Quebec

H. J. Buchanan- Wollaston

1931–1932

 

Fisheries Laboratories, Lowestoft

J. Rasmussen

1931–1932

Sweden

Astrund, Sweden

R. O. Iliffe

1932

Ag. Res. Institute, Coimbatore, India

 

S. A. Stouffer

1932

U. of Chicago

Department of Sociology, U. of Wisconsin, Madison

C. Stuart Christian

1932–1933

 

Queensland U., Brisbane

R. S. Koshal

1932–1933

 

Tech. Research, Indian Central Cotton Committee, Bombay

A. Bigot

1933

Agricultural H. S., Wageningen, Holland

 

A. E. Brandt

1933

Iowa State Col.,Ames, IA

Iowa State College of Agriculture Ames, IA

H. L. G. Milne

1933

Dept. of Ag., Entebbe, Uganda

East African Ag. Research Station, Tanganyika Territory

R. A. Scott

1933

Dept. of Agriculture, Launceston, Tasmania

 

I. Zacopanay

1933

  

A. V. Coombs

1933–1934

 

Imperial Chem. Industries, Colombo, Ceylon

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Hall, N.S. R. A. Fisher and his advocacy of randomization. J Hist Biol 40, 295–325 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-006-9119-z

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