No. 2.] PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 483 



of the test before he must stop and try to understand a different one. The slow man was un- 

 fairly treated; the unpracticed one could not marshal his skill and ability in the time allowed. 

 The importance of such criticisms for the future of testing in the Army was not overlooked. It 

 was necessary to make the essential fairness of the examinations plain to all concerned. 



The psychological staffs pointed out to critics that two to four separate examinations were 

 often given the low-grade man before his final score was obtained. Practice gains were meas- 

 ured; the reliability of examination a was calculated. Specific cases of officers or men con- 

 sidered unusually rapid thinkers or especially slow thinkers were compared. Enough evidence 

 accumulated to show that personal estimates of quick or slow thinkers were not borne out by the 

 scores. Men of recognized ability made scores roughly equivalent to such ability in comparison 

 with those made by other men of different standing. Discrepancies occurred also. It is impos- 

 sible to say that every man was measured accurately. Sufficient proof existed, however, to 

 substantiate the main body of residts and clearly to establish the existence of errors of personal 

 judgment. It was further acknowledged that a man might have high intellectual ability and 

 still be useless out of or in the Army. 



Section 8. — Special studies conducted in the camps. 



Several detailed studies were made on different problems connected with examination a. 

 Ten psychologists, each with somewhat different interests and training, were assigned to each 

 of the four camps. The abundance of material, of clerical assistance at times, the novelty of the 

 methods, all tended to provoke inquiry into the nature and validit}' of the testing materials. 

 The principal work was in connection with the improvement of methods for semiliterates, illiter- 

 ates, and foreigners, but, as stated, much study was given to the technique and significance of 

 group intelligence examining. 



Reference to the more important studies on the technical aspects of examination a will 

 indicate the nature of the investigations begun by the different staffs during the fall of 1917. 



The material supplied for examination a contained five different forms. By this means, 

 coaching and other possibilities of cheating were probably reduced to the minimum. An entire 

 series of reports concerned the relative difficulty of these different forms. Comparisons were 

 made on the distributions of each form as a whole and detailed studies made of differences in 

 difficulty of each test in each form. Although 36,000 cases were distributed to determine the 

 relative difficulty of forms, no definite conclusion beyond the probability that form A was easiest 

 and form E most difficult was reached. The inability to obtain unselected groups probably 

 explains the reason for this failure. The method used, comparison of different groups with 

 separate forms, hinges on equalitj^ of abikty in the groups. The result proves somewhat con- 

 clusively that this method does not lead to a final statement of differences. The details of these 

 studies concerning forms are summarized in the chapters on methods. 



Some seven or eight detailed investigations were initiated to establish the relations of 

 examination a, examination b, group skill test, and the different procedures used in individual 

 examining. These necessitated working numerous correlation coefficients and a large amount of 

 auxiliary statistical computation. Whenever a new test was suggested, as the group perform- 

 ance tests at Dix, the Devens literacy test, the use of point scale, Stanford-Binet and Pintner- 

 Paterson performance tests at Lee or the performance tests devised at Taylor to separate age 

 groups at the mental age of lOi, it was correlated with the tests in use, on Army recruits and on 

 groups of known mental age or known mental ability in civil institutions. 



Examination a was also studied in its relation to different levels of intelligence. Its diag- 

 nostic value was measured for different army grades and correlations computed for its value in 

 comparison with officers' estimates. Several reports were prepared on the relation of scores to 

 age, reported schooling, salary, previous occupation, etc. Detailed studies were made of cer- 

 tain groups, notably the Three hundred and third Engineers at Dix and the Three hundred and 

 thirty-third Infantry at Taylor. A total of 106 special reports were prepared and submitted 

 by January 1, 1918. Half as many more were in preparation and were completed during the 

 two following months. 



