No. 3.] 



PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 



Table 167. 



655 



At first glance these results seem rather startling, for one might suppose that going from 

 alpha (for a given number of cases) to the combined scale ought to yield the same results as going 

 from beta to combined scale. These facts are quite the contrary. However, this difference 

 in no wise discredits the method. It must be remembered that in a group of this sort there is 

 a large percentage of illiterates; thus the group no doubt includes a considerable proportion 

 of the cases who made unsatisfactory scores in alpha and were recalled to beta not because of 

 stupidity but because of language difficulty. When they reached beta, they were able to make 

 scores more consistent with their ability. It is precisely this element of the group that causes 

 the difference in the two means on the combined scale. The same fact explains the wide differ- 

 ences in the standard deviations. The standard deviation of the combined scale distribution 

 when reached by way of beta is larger than by way of alpha. Here the difference is no doubt 

 due to the fact that in alpha both the stupid and the non-English speaking piled up in the lower 

 class intervals, while in beta the stupid remained in the lower ranges and the more intelligent 

 went higher, thus increasing the standard deviation. 



The six tables 168 to 173 exhibit the cases of the principal sample of the white draft who 

 were recalled from examination alpha to one of the three types of individual examination or from 

 examination beta to one of the three types of individual examination. Unfortunately there 

 has not been time for the statistical treatment of these tables. 



Table 168. — Variables: Alpha score X score on performance scale examination. Groups I, II, III: White draft. 

 For men who took performance scale examination following alpha or following alpha and beta. 



