1.2.5 Interpretation, interpretation,
interpretation
In many fields, as time passes, opinion upon how data should
be interpreted changes. Indeed, there are often differences in
opinion about data interpretation at any one time. This is
particularly true of genetic data on human diversity. Debates
described in Chapters 8 and 10, on the origins of modern
humans and the genetic impact of the spread of agriculture in
Europe, illustrate this. Particular methods of analysis, with
different underlying paradigms, can be adopted by opposing
‘camps’ within a particular field, and reconciliation becomes
difficult. Some methods for analyzing diversity data seem