Hi Raghavendra!

I am not very good in this but I think you should choose a random population set. I don’t understand the second part well but I think it is not a matter of clues but only the way you board the question. If you select the variable emotion as either present or absent, then it is discontinuous or binary. The phenotype will be scored as 0 or 1. If you have a way to measure its intensity then the variable will be continuous.

Hi!

If you have little statistical background that helps you lot. Anyway go through the attached ppt you get useful information.

Hi,

I am not sure I understood exactly what you want to do, but anyway you have to define the cohort according to the characteristic you want to study (optimists, pesimists, easily moved or what so ever) and see the allele and genotype distribution among the groups of interest. Stick to certain ethnicity and gender. Otherwise you will have just the distribution of the polymorphism among the population - heterogenic or not but not an assocition with the emotional feature. Are you going to pursue a case-control study?

I believe you would first need to establish a sampling number that is statistically significant minimum of 300 individuals perhaps. Secondly it depends of which kind of study you would do. Association studies perhaps? or Mapping studies? Association studies would require a random sampling of the population mapping studies require a fixed population from a family. If I did not misunderstand the question, I hope it helps you out a little

Depends on the chosen species. We may not be generalizing rules tested for sardines to higher primates. It is all about the generation interval, fecundity etc.. of the species as well as sexual reproduction mode. There is no certain number working for all species in general.

Usually a sample size of greater than 100 samples is sufficient to make reliable projections about a genotypes frequency in a larger population.Random population study is always recommended.