3 82 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— J. 



gap in our knowledge. Eight investigations have recently been conducted, 

 and are here considered — seven of them wholly or conjointly by the National 

 Institute of Industrial Psychology, three of them incomplete, and seven of 

 them with the express object of ascertaining the value of the newer methods 

 of vocational guidance as compared with the older. In three of these eight 

 investigations ' control ' groups were formed, consisting of individuals who 

 received only the current methods of vocational guidance. These were 

 foUowed-up in their after-careers and compared with the results of a similar 

 follow-up of strictly comparable ' experimental ' groups who had been 

 vocationally guided according to the newer, more systematic, more scientific 

 methods. Whether control groups were formed or not, comparisons were 

 also made between those persons who took and those who rejected the 

 advice received. The criteria used in these comparisons included (a) the 

 number and duration of the posts occupied by those advised during 

 the follow-up period, (b) their degree of satisfaction with their work, (c) the 

 degree of their employers' satisfaction with their work, (d) their wages 

 earned, etc. Five investigations relate to elementary schools, two to public 

 and other secondary schools, one to a junior technical school and a technical 

 college. 



The numerical tabular data, obtained from these eight investigations and 

 presented in this communication, afford striking evidence of the value and 

 vast superiority of the new methods of vocational guidance. Indeed, in 

 several instances the average results of the current methods of guidance 

 employed in this country appear to be more favourable when the advice 

 received is rejected than when it is followed. 



Dr. A. Macrae. — Demonstration of modern vocational guidance methods. 

 Dr. G. H. Miles. — Some psychological problems in market research. 



Afternoon. 



Dr. Ll. Wynn Jones. — The prediction of common reactions as a psycho- 

 logical method. 



Studies of free association by means of the Jung or Kent-Rosanoff word 

 lists proved useful in the diagnosis of conduct. The former is intended 

 for locating complexes, the latter for ascertaining the frequency of unusual 

 associations when care has been taken ' to avoid such words as are especially 

 liable to call up personal experiences.' 



In the present preliminary study the Kent-Rosanoff list was employed 

 and the instructions were radically modified. The subjects on hearing the 

 stimulus-word were to write the word which they considered would be 

 given by most individuals. The results of this modification are : (i) The 

 test may be administered as a group test ; (2) Inhibitions due to complexes 

 are reduced so that the recording of the reaction-times may be discon- 

 tinued, a procedure which is questionable in the Kent-Rosanoff test; 

 (3) Various methods of marking were tested and there were available for 

 comparison three scales by Leeds graduates : Verbal Tests of Intelligence 

 (Tomlinson's West Riding Scale), Gowda's Non-Verbal Tests of Intelli- 

 gence, and Karve's Fluency Tests ; (4) There is a need of frequency 

 tables for special use with school children, irrespective of whether the 

 Kent-Rosanoff or the present procedure of asking the subject to predict 

 the reactions of his fellows is employed. Especially is this the case with 

 ' problem ' children. 



