PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 695 
the preparation of the data. If the first possible source of error be minimised, 
the second will be practically removed. Granted a really wide investigation, 
there is little room for serious error. If a sufficiently large number of cases be 
examined, and these cases selected under sufficiently varied conditions, the sub- 
jective variations will neutralise each other, and a reliable result will be pro- 
duced. It must never be forgotten that the Pearson and other formule are 
merely means of dealing with material already acquired. It is only to this extent 
that they supply an objective standard. Many of the recognised sciences are in 
no better case. 
The hope of the evolution of Education as a science lies in the proper manipu- 
lation of the method of experiment. Students of Education have always been in 
the habit of asking questions, but they have not always waited for an answer. 
Nor have they usually taken sufficient care in making their questions precise. 
They have not laid down with the necessary detail the conditions implied in the 
question, and when they have reached some answer they have been too often 
content either to accept it without any verification at all, or with the support of 
nothing but a few general considerations that seemed to confirm it. In the newer 
educational investigations questions are set out in great detail. They are usually 
limited to one point, and all the relevant conditions are carefully laid down. 
Various control tests’are applied during the progress of the investigation, and 
every precaution taken against the introduction of. interfering forces. Then 
when a result has been obtained various confirmatory tests are applied. Even 
when all has gone well so far the result is not regarded as authoritative till the 
experiment has been repeated with the same results by different experimenters 
working under different general conditions, though, of course, all the detailed 
conditions must be precisely the same as in the original experiment. 
The questions asked are often of a very practical character. In the current 
number of Child-Study Mr. W. H. Winch gives an example. The question is 
whether one gets better results in working ‘ problems’ in Arithmetic by (a) direct 
teaching for a certain period in how to work such problems; or (b) spending 
the same period in giving the pupils practice in working such problems. Mr. 
Winch gives a very instructive account of all the conditions under which his 
experiment was carried out, including all the necessary precautions. The result 
is that those who had had the teaching scored an average of 11-1 in the final 
test, while those who had had the practice scored only 9:2: the group that was 
taught improving on its preliminary record to the extent of 34 per cent., while 
the group that had been confined to practice improved by only 11 per cent. It 
is thus demonstrated, at present, that teaching counts for more than practice in 
the preparation of pupils to do problems in Arithmetic. But the fact cannot be 
regarded as a part of the permanent possessions of the teacher till it is verified 
by many more experiments in this country and abroad. 
We have seen that even at our present stage of advancement there is quite 
a respectable collection of recognised facts in connection with Teaching and 
Education, and that these are in process of organisation. We shall soon have 
such a volume of well-arranged knowledge as shall meet the first requirement for 
recognition as a science. But while organisation is imperatively needed and must 
go on, there is an equally urgent need for new knowledge. There are hundreds 
of definite practical questions that are being asked by teachers every day, and 
unfortunately answered according to individual experience, if not indeed accord- 
ing to individual caprice. Some few questions about the memory are now 
definitely answered, and practical educators have the benefit of the results of 
experiments; but there are scores of points with regard to memory on which 
there is still doubt, and yet these are points on which the practical educator must 
adopt a definite line in his daily work. He cannot postpone his decision : he 
must do one thing or another, and in the meantime he has no standard. Such 
investigations as are being undertaken by the committees of this section are 
helping to increase the total body of knowledge at present available. It is true 
that hitherto these investigations have been mainly concerned with psychological 
matters, and certainly our store of psychological knowledge is not so great as to 
warrant any complaint at the concentration on this aspect. But it is pleasant 
to note that this year we are haying a report on more distinctively pedagogic 
matters. There could be no more useful subject of inquiry suggested than an 
