158 



devised by Ebbinghaus to measure mental efficiency in general, 

 in filling in words omitted from a passage. From even the 

 hastily devised sample presented here it will be seen that this 

 form of test is scored with reasonable ease. The speed of an 

 individual in selecting words to fill the gaps and the appropriate- 

 ness of his selections together measure his knowledge. The 

 former is scored with no effort at all and the latter with far less 

 effort than is required to evaluate answers to questions, essays 

 or experimental work. The paragraphs and omissions therefrom 

 should be arranged with care and improved after trial, but it 

 may be of interest to some of you to compare the ratings obtained 

 in six or eight tests of five minutes each like the following: 



"A body changing its position in space moves in a certain 



at a certain A in the 



called acceleration. To change either the 



or the of a moving 



requires Suppose a pound of lead to 



be held at rest 500 feet above the surface of the ocean by a string 

 to be cut. The body will toward the and etc. 



"The second is a very simple development of so-called associa- 

 tion tests which I have used with good success in regular examina- 

 tions in psychology for a number of years. It needs no explana- 

 tion other than a sample. 



"Write after each of these words some fact which it vsuggests 

 to you. 



acceleration gravity current lever 



density expansion elastic inclined" 



"This test maybe modified by selecting given words' much less 

 easily provocative of thoughts about facts of science, and being 

 mixed, if necessary, with words that would call up facts of science 

 only in a person absorbed by scientific interests.' Of course if 

 'such association tests are to be used to measure interest, they 

 should not be used previously in the form calling definitely for 

 facts about science.' These tests of interest may be used to 

 measure both special interest in particular sciences and general 

 interests, as in fact rather than fiction, knowledge rather than 

 opinion, or verification rather than dispute. 



