no. 2.] PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 311 



There is no desire to make the work of the committee assume an importance which it does 

 not deserve. It would be misleading to leave the reader with the impression that the methods 

 which the committee formulated were in any sense inventions de novo. Few inventions are. 

 In the present instance the committee did not hesitate to borrow suitable methods or material 

 wherever they could be found. In the tests for individual examination there was little new 

 except a part of the materials and certain adaptations of procedure. It should be stated, however, 

 that several members of the committee had in earlier work made important contributions to 

 various tests included in the individual examination. For the group method somewhat more 

 originality may be claimed. One can at least say that it made possible what had hitherto been 

 impossible. It did this, however, far more by the adaptation of tried methods than by the whole- 

 sale creation of new ones. Conspicuously important features of the group method are: (1) The 

 arrangement of the tests so as to permit response without writing and to secure complete ob- 

 jectivity of scoring; (2) the "random selection" method of securing equally difficult alternative 

 forms; (3) the standardization of procedure. For (1) the committee was indebted more to Otis 

 than to any other one person; for (2) the credit belongs to Wells; for (3) the committee as a 

 whole was responsible. 



The immediate origin of the 10 tests of the group method has already been indicated. The 

 contribution of the committee with respect to them was chiefly in the line of adaptations de- 

 signed to render them more serviceable for military use. Test 1 embodied the best features of 

 the ''Following directions" tests of Woodworth and Wells, 1 and of Abelson 2 . It differed from 

 the "Geometric test" of Otis chiefly in the fact that the directions were given orally instead of 

 being read by the subject. Test 2 was the Otis adaptation of the memory span test for group use. 

 Test 3 was the Otis adaptation of the Binet test of disarranged sentences. Test 4 involved noth- 

 ing new. Test 5 was borrowed in part from the Bureau of Salesmanship Research Tests (Car- 

 negie Institute of Technology) and in part from an information test devised by Wells. Test 6 

 was taken entirely from Otis. It is more nearly an invention than any other test in the scale 

 and in justice to its author should be associated with his name. Test 7 was a cross between the 

 Binet comprehension test and the Bonser "selective judgment" test. 3 Test 8 was based upon 

 Thurstone's number series completion test, while test 9 is an adaptation of the association pro- 

 portion test. 4 Test 10 was proposed by Wells as an improved form of the cancellation test. 



It should be stated that at this stage the committee regarded the methods as altogether 

 tentative. A thorough trial upon several thousand soldiers under camp conditions was regarded 

 as necessary before any steps should be taken to secure their acceptance by the War Department. 

 Fortunately thorough trial was possible. 



1 Woodworth, R. S. and Wells, F. L. Association Tests. Psychol, ilonog., vol. 13, whole no. 57, 1911, pp. 6S-72. 



• Abelson, A. R. The Measurement of Mental Ability of "Backward '' Children. Brit. J. Psychol., vol. 4, 1911, pp. 279-2S8. 



• Bonser, op. cit., pp. 5-G. 



i See especially Woodworth, R. S., and Wells, F. L., op. cit., pp. 63-64 (Mixed Relations Test). 



