The Efficiency of Training Methods 249 



they profited much more quickly by this method than by 

 the ten-test method, whereas just the reverse is true of the 

 males. I present the data of this table merely to show that 

 general averages may hide important facts. 



From all considerations that have been mentioned thus 

 far the reader would be justified in concluding that I made a 

 mistake in selecting the ten-test method for my study of the 

 modifiability of the behavior of the dancer. That this con- 

 clusion is not correct is due to the time factor in the experi- 

 ments. If the dancer could acquire a perfect habit as a 

 result of twelve days' training, no matter whether two, five, 

 ten, or twenty tests were given daily, it would, of course, be 

 economical of time for the experimenter to employ the two- 

 test method. But if, on the contrary, the two-test method 

 required twice as many days' training as the five-test method, 

 it would be economical for him to use the five-test method 

 despite the fact that he would have to give a larger number 

 of tests than the two-test method would have demanded. 

 In a word, the time which the work requires depends upon 

 the number of series which have to be given, as well as upon 

 the number of tests in each series. As it happens, the ten- 

 test method demands less of the experimenter's time than 

 do methods with fewer tests per day. The twenty-test 

 method is even more economical of time, but it has a fatal 

 defect. It is at times too tiresome for both mouse and man. 

 These facts indicate that a balance should be struck between 

 number of tests and number of series. The fewer the tests 

 per day, within the limits of two and one hundred, the higher 

 the efficiency of the method of training, as measured in terms 

 of the total number of tests necessary for the establishment 

 of a perfect habit, and the lower its efficiency as measured in 

 terms of the number of series given. The greater the number 

 of tests per day, on the other hand, the higher the efficiency 



