Bland, John Martin orcid.org/0000-0002-9525-5334 (2017) Errors of Measurement: Regression Toward the Mean. In: Allen, Mike, (ed.) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. SAGE , Thousand Oaks , pp. 441-446.
Abstract
In 1886, Francis Galton published an article titled “Regression Towards Mediocrity in Hereditary Stature.” Interested in heredity, Galton had obtained measurements on heights of 205 sets of parents and their 913 adult children. He noticed that if he selected families where the parents were tall, the average height of the children was less than that of their parents, whereas if he selected families where the parents were short, the average height of the children was greater. Galton called this “regression towards mediocrity”; it is now known as“regression towards the mean,” as the term mediocrity has acquired disparaging connotations. The same thing happens with the children: for tall children, the mean height of their parents isless; for short children, the mean height of their parents is greater. This is a statistical, not a genetic, henomenon. This entry discusses how regression toward the mean works, providing several examples.
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Item Type: | Book Section |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 SAGE Publications. This is an author-produced version of the published chapter. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Health Sciences (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jul 2017 11:00 |
Last Modified: | 08 Jan 2025 00:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:118488 |
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