N0.2.J PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 395 



3. There are indications to the effect that individuals handicapped by language difficulty 

 and illiteracy are penalized to an appreciable degree in beta as compared with men not so handi- 

 capped, although this is far less true for beta than for alpha. Further evidence is needed on 

 this point. 



4. Beta in its present form is quite unsatisfactory as an instrument of selection of cases 

 for individual examinations. Its efficiency from this point of view is measured by the degree 

 to which it succeeds in recalling cases who will be considered low-grade mentally on the basis 

 of the individual examination and in not recalling in any considerable numbers cases who will 

 be classified by the individual examinations as high grade. Reference to the scatter table of 

 beta with Stanford makes clear the difficulty of drawing a satisfactory lower dividing line in 

 beta for recall to individual examination. The present dividing line of 40 weighted score 

 recalls 36 cases, or 5.5 per cent, of the total English-speaking group. Of these, 22 are below 

 10 years mental age as measured by Stanford and 14 are above 10 years, whereas 13 cases 

 under 9 years are missed. Any attempt to remedy the situation results either in recalling 

 too many cases who are not open to serious question as low-grade cases or in missing too many 

 who should at least be considered for rejection or for a development battalion. 



5. It appeared that no reweighting of tests could be made which would produce an appre- 

 ciable improvement in beta either from the point of view of its application to the whole range of 

 abilities or from the point of view of its use as in instrument of selection of low-grade cases. 



In connection with the above statements regarding inability to make actual improvement 

 in beta it should be remembered that no changes which would affect the blanks were con- 

 templated at this time. With opportunity to experiment with changes in the actual content 

 of the tests, it is entirely possible that an improved test of the beta type might have been 

 constructed. Among other changes, further adjustment of the time limits might have been 

 made to the advantage of certain of the tests. 



