Looking a gift horse in the mouth: the problems of using archived and published biometrical data.
Cluny Johnstone · 1999
A brief overview i s pres ented of some of the problems associated with using archived and published biometrical data. Many of the problems were encountered whilst undertaking an undergraduate dissertation based on biometrical data for archaeological horses. Discussions with colleagues brought to li ght other problems relating to archived and published data. Locating sources, obtaining the data from them and actually making use of thos e d ata are considered here. There are problems associated with publications, archives, ‘grey literature’, microfiches, summary tables and unclear or abse nt methods statements. These problems excluded many potentially useful and interesting datasets from further analysis, lessening the value of undertaking a synthetic project of this type. In conclusion, some ways in which the problems may be obviated in the future are suggested.