Creating a Research Plan for DNA Testing

Most people simply take a DNA test out of curiosity.  Some really want to the DNA to help them shed light on a family mystery or break down a brick wall.  Unfortunately, simply taking a DNA test will not help you to answer your questions.  These tests can throw open the closets on family secrets, but they also should be treated like another record source.

DNA is an excellent tool when used correctly.  I like to tell people to think of your DNA results the same way you would any other record.  It can give you some answers, but it can also leave questions.  To get the most out of your tests you need to know what questions to ask and which tests will answer those questions.

With that thought in mind you can easily incorporate DNA testing into your research plans.  What is crucial for you as the researcher is to determine which test you should use to answer your question(s).  Remember you may have to perform a variety of genealogical research as well.  This includes finding living descendants of your ancestors who could hold the genetic material you need.

There are 5 steps to successful a great research plan.  As a researcher, you need to:

1.      Ask questions

2.      Look for information

3.      Speculate about the answer

4.      Establish the facts

5.      Explore what else should be researched (like DNA)

You can turn this list into a written narrative or leave it as a simple list.  Whatever works the best for you is what is important.  I tend to do a little of both, which you will see in the example plan section below.  I can tell you that if you follow these steps you will go far in your ancestor hunting.

Ask: What do I want to discover?  Often this is called your objective or research question.  Ask yourself what specifically you want to find.  Be detailed and only ask one question at a time.  For example: Who was the father of John Jones, born in New York City, 24 May 1893?

That is a great specific question.  If you just asked “who were John Jones parents” that is too vague.  Which John Jones?  Where? When? You want to ask a question that will have only one correct answer.  It could ask about a person and their relationship to someone else, to verify a person’s identity, or for verification of an event that took place. 

Look: What do I know? After you decide what you are researching you should look at your files to determine what you already know.  Pull together all of your information into one place and start to analyze it.  You also want to take into consideration how reliable are the sources you are looking at.  Remember back to chapter 1 when we talked about types of sources, information, and evidence.  Those guidelines will help you determine how much credence you put into the documents laying before you.

Speculate: Do I have an idea of the answer? Sometimes after looking through all of the information you have gathered you might be able to make a hypothesis for the answer to your question.  You may hear genies talk about serendipity or that they were guided by their ancestors.  I like to say it was good detective work that gave them a gut feeling on what they needed to do next.

Whatever you would like to call it see if you can develop an idea about what happened.  You may end up with a handful of ideas, which is great.  Those will be the places you will want to check first in the next step. 

Establish: Where should I look? This can be one of the hardest things for a new researcher to do, determine where they should look for records.  Since you are new to the field it may seem like an uphill battle.  You will need to educate yourself on what is available for the location and time frame you are interested in.  Maybe you will need to start out by interviewing family members on the problem.  They could lead you to resources that you didn’t know existed. 

Explore: What should be done? Ok, now you should think about what you need to research.  Start to determine if there is a type of record you should look at first or maybe a database you need to consult before other research begins.  This part is where your plan comes together.  Take all this information and collate it into one document

Simply follow your research plan, tweak it was needed, and you will discover that research really is not that difficult.  For DNA testing the hardest part might be finding willing participants.  Persist, ask, and look for the people who potentially hold the answer to your questions.

Resources:

Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker-Wayne

The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine Bettinger

Family Search Blog: Using atDNA Testing in Your Genealogy Research https://familysearch.org/blog/en/fishing-tips-autosomal-dna-test-results-genealogy-research/

BCG Website: DNA and the Reasonably Exhaustive Search by Judy Russell http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/skbld141.html