Alternative coding strategies and the inapplicable data coding problem
Volkhard Seitz, Sol Ortiz García, Aaron Liston · Taxon · 2000
Summary Seitz, V., Ortiz García, S. & Liston, A.: Alternative coding strategies and the inapplicable data coding problem. – Taxon 49: 47‐54. 2000. – ISSN 0040‐0262. A comprehensive overview of the relationship of alternative coding strategies to the inapplicable data coding problem is presented. In contrast to Pleijel, who argued that the presence/absence coding method (coding each observable feature as a separate character) avoids problems with non‐applicable states, we show that the problem of inapplicable data is the same, no matter whether observable features are coded as separate characters or as two or more states of a character. The inapplicable data problem is concealed in presence/absence coding if the distinction between inapplicable and absent data is not made.