I think a lot of these questions are going to have to wait for the White Paper to come out. I'm not sure if the author's name was White or why it's called the White Paper. It's the scientific study and methodology of how this all came about.
So, these questions are NOT going to being answered definitively right now, because I don't know until I read the paper. 1) How far back do these results go 200,500, maybe 1,000 years or 2,000. Do they know? Which ethnicities are recent? How recent? Which are the most distant? Do we really know more now? Answer: We'll have to wait for the paper. I know that some of the sample database did come from FTDNA customers. In the fall of 2012, FTDNA sent out an email to those who had tested Family Finder (I don't know - 50,000 people maybe) and only about 1200 answered about their ethnicity. I did send a notice out to this list at that time, asking people to fill out the survey. As for the rest of the sample that they used - we'll have to wait for that scientific paper to come out. 2) What is the margin of error? Answer: I don't know. We'll have to wait for the paper. In past scientific papers that I've read or utilized, 1-3% would be within a margin or error. T-scores, p-scores, z-scores, ANOVA....I don't know, I'd have to get out my stats book and look all that stuff up. The paper will state which test was used and what the margin of error was. 3) Why is the North Mediterranean described as being "From Spain to Greece" (I can see the graphic), and why are the Azores described as being "off the coast of Spain"? Answer: My wild guess: If I look at the map of the Mediterranean Sea, the countries on the north part of the Sea are Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey (but I think myOrigins classifies Turkey as something else), and the countries on the south part of the Sea are Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. But to a history or geography major, that may be wrong. As for the Azores to being off the coast of Spain, I let FTDNA know that they are off the coast of Portugal and that the Balearic Islands are off the eastern coast of Spain. Stuff like that is low priority for them. They probably thought of us when they *tried* to include us in the description! LOL. -- Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
