RURAL AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 25 



acteristics of various types of industry warrant a somewhat de- 

 tailed description of their application to this particular study. 



Partial correlations aid in eliminating disturbing factors 



distortions that occur because of the difficulty in rating pure 



qualities and relationships. Moreover, this 



Partial correlations very value in separating out the unde- 

 provide a method of sired or disturbing elements makes it pos- 

 analyzing charact- sible to analyze, to break them up into 

 eristics. their elements. They provide for ex- 



ample, a method of analysis of such a 



complex as managerial ability. Their use may be illustrated by 

 considering the pure relationship existing between financial suc- 

 cess and field and chore skills. The definitions for field and 

 chore skills and for mechanical ability seem to involve very dif- 

 ferent concepts but both characteristics have to do with handl- 

 ing external things horses, tools, machines, and the like. It is 

 very probable, therefore, that one's ratings for skills may be 

 more or less mixed with one's rating for mechanical ability. If 

 so, can the mechanical part of the skill be cast out of the rela- 

 tionship ? Or, to consider it as a chemist might in manipulating 

 the elements in an experiment, can it be held constant or con- 

 trolled while the other elements are eliminated or used in vary- 

 ing relationships? Can the pure relationship between financial 

 success and skill be determined while the mechanical element, 

 that may be included inadvertently or by the very nature of the 

 composition of desirable qualities due to valuable common ele- 

 ments, is held in abeyance or control? 



Referring again to Table III, the following values may 

 be found r(fk)=.677, r(fc)=.472, r(kc)=.654. These values 



may be called total values. In spite of 



Desirable qualities the large number of judgments behind 

 may have common them there may be a constant tendency 

 elements. to confuse skills and mechanical ability. 



Moreover, as suggested above, there are 



undoubtedly actual relations due to common elements that can- 

 not be separated. From a common sense view this is very evi- 

 dent. It is desirable to know, however, in deciding questions 



