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The problem of microattribution


 Microattribution is the name of a method which has recently started to be used in the attribution of parts of early modern plays. The method seeks to make authorship attributions by using samples of writing consisting of less than two hundred words. This article argues that the method should not be used, fundamentally because it flouts the well-founded scientific insistence on the sufficiency of sample sizes. The article considers two recent applications of the method, showing that huge amounts of evidence were overlooked which would have invalidated the conclusions drawn. Moreover, the article demonstrates that the method is biased in favour of authors with large surviving canons, such as Shakespeare, and it cannot therefore be relied upon.