CHAPTER 3. 



ACCEPTANCE OF METHODS BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT AND EARLY MODIFICATIONS RESULTING 



FROM OFFICIAL USE. 



The methods prepared at Vineland, modified and supplemented in accordance with 

 Thorndike's recommendations, were offered to the Surgeon General of the Army through the 

 chairman of the Committee on Medicine and Hygiene of the National Research Council. The 

 War Department promptly accepted the methods, and the Office of the Surgeon General initiated 

 preparations for their official trial in military training camps. 



Terman, who had been made a member of the Committee on Classification of Personnel in 

 the Army and had been assigned by that committee to duty with the section of psychology, 

 Office of the Surgeon General, devoted the larger part of his time from August 17 to September 

 28, to the revision of the Examiner's Guide along the lines suggested by the results of the unoffi- 

 cial trial. In this he was materially assisted by Yoakum, who, from the middle of August until 

 the middle of September, also aided in perfecting arrangements for psychological work in the 

 camps. 



The Examiner's Guide, which was reprinted by the medical department, United States 

 Army, in September, 1917, is reproduced on pages 123ff. Aside from minor details it differs 

 from the original Guide, prepared by the committee at Vineland, only by reason of the following 

 additions: (1) "Introductory explanations," page 123; (2) instructions for literacy test; (3) 

 instructions for group intelligence examination b, pages 128-129 (the regular group examination 

 now designated as group intelligence examination a, repeated with extended time for those 

 who had made low scores in the first examination) ; (4) instructions for the group skill test 

 (Stenquist construction, single series 1), pages 129-130; (5) instructions for Stenquist construc- 

 tion test for use in the individual examination (test F, p. 133) ; (6) instructions for scoring the 

 Stenquist test, pages 146-147. 



After certain preliminary experimental groups had been examined in the four cantonments, 

 the method of scoring was changed by the elimination of negative scores. It was thought that 

 the use of negative scores would increase clerical errors, and that they would also be misunder- 

 stood or misinterpreted. The provisional weights (pp. 313-314), however, were retained. 

 The score now ranged from to 414. 



The following tentative interpretation of the scores for men able to read and write was sug- 

 gested to examiners. 



It was decided to designate the above five groups as A, B, C, D, and E, respectively, and to 

 report both the man's letter grade and his numercial score to the company commander. This 

 system of letter grades was continued except for the addition in February, 1918, of the grades 

 C+ and C— , and somewhat later, of D — . This classification certainly was not the most satis- 

 factory that could have been devised. As it turned out, a scale of five grades proved to be too 

 coarse. The addition of C+ and C— gave only seven grades. It would possibly have proved 

 advantageous if a scale of ten equal steps had been used. 



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