Terms

Participation Agreement

Participants who consent to joining the MacDougall DNA Research Project and to taking a Y-DNA test at the Project’s expense agree to the following:

• Permit the MacDougall DNA Research Project coordinator to access their Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) test results by consenting to the Project administrator having “Advanced Level” access.
• Permit their test results to be joined to the MacDougall surname project page at FTDNA. This includes:
  • participant’s full name
  • their FTDNA kit ID number
  • name of their most distant known paternal ancestor (MDKA)
  • birth or marriage date of that MDKA (if known)
  • geographical location of that event
  • the participant’s STR signature and SNP marker results

To adhere to privacy regulations, any group discussion of a participant’s DNA results and findings, will refer ONLY to the test taker’s FTDNA kit number and most distant known ancestor (MDKA) information. Group-wide presentation of the Project participant data on the FTDNA MacDougall surname project page will also be anonymized and will refer ONLY to the each test-taker’s FTDNA kit number. If at anytime the project wishes to share new findings with participants, test takers may be approached to share their identity and genealogy.

Participants might be asked to complete further testing or have their original test upgraded at the Project’s cost to better define their specific genetic signature and origin. If further testing is ordered (Big Y-700) participants agree to:

• consent to permitting Project administrators to access their FTDNA kit so that Big Y-700 data files can be retrieved and further analyzed
• permit their Big Y-700 VCF file be uploaded to Yfull.com for further analysis
• permit their Big Y-700 VCF file be transferred to Doug McDonald of the Clan Donald DNA Project for further analysis
• permit their Big Y-700 VCF be uploaded to Alex Williamson’s Big Tree via the DNA Y-DNA Data Warehouse for further analysis

This Participation Agreement was last updated 31 Oct 2024.

Free DNA test

The test we are offering initially is the male specific 37-Y-DNA. Note – this offer may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the sponsor.

Warning

We need to highlight that testing might show that your male DNA is connected to men who carry a different surname to yourself.  This scenario is not unusual with West Highland Clans where fealty and allegiance to the local district chief along with adoption of their Clan name was commonly practiced. However, each lineage has its own history and a Y-DNA result will inform further research rather than hinder it.