Part 14 (1/2)

ADHERING TO FORMULA It cannot be too strongly emphasized that unless we follow a standardized procedure the tests lose their significance The danger is chiefly that of unintentionally and unconsciously introducing variations which will affect thein thecannot appreciate how numerous are the opportunities for the unconscious transformation of a test Many of these are pointed out in the description of the individual tests, but it would be folly to undertake to warn the experiainst every possible error of this kind

Soiving the test will alter nificance of the response

Only the trained psychologist can vary the for the result, and even hethe correct placing of tests and regarding their accuracy or inaccuracy have coators to follow the same procedure

One ould use the tests for any serious purpose, therefore, must study the procedure for each and every test until he knows it thoroughly After that a considerable amount of practice is necessary before one learns to avoid slips During the early stages of practice it is necessary to refer to the printed instructions frequently in order to check up errors before they have become habitual

The instructions hitherto available are at fault in not defining the procedure with sufficient definiteness, and it is the purpose of this voluood this deficiency as far as possible

It is too much, however, to suppose that the instructions can be made ”fool-proof” With whatever definiteness they may be set forth, situations are sure to arise which the examiner cannot be formally prepared for There is no lis possible After testing hundreds of children one still finds new examples of misapprehension In a few such cases the instruction may be repeated, if there is reason to think the child's hearing was at fault or if some extraordinary distraction has occurred But unless otherwise stated in the directions, the repetition of a question is ordinarily to be avoided Supplementary explanations are hardly ever permissible

In short, numberless situations may arise in the use of a test which may injure the validity of the response, events which cannot always be dealt with by preconceived rule Accordingly, although wethe standard procedure, it is not to be supposed that forment or for co the individual tests is set forth in the following chapters Reference to the record booklet for use in testing will show that the records are to be kept in detail Each subdivision of a test should be scored separately, in order that the clinical picture may be as complete as possible This helps in the final evaluation of the results It makessix digits is earned by repeating all three correctly or only one; or whether the child's lack of success with the absurdities is due to failure on two, three, four, or all of them Time should be recorded whenever called for in the record blanks

RECORDING RESPONSES Plus and ns alone are not usually sufficient Whenever possible the entire response should be recorded If the test results are to be used by any other person than the examiner, this is absolutely essential Any other standard of completeness opens the door to carelessness and inaccuracy In nearly all the tests, except that of na sixty words, the examiner will find it possible by the liberal use of abbreviations to record practically the entire response _verbati the child waiting Occasionally it is necessary to leave off recording altogether because of the e his ansritten down The writer has met the latter difficulty several ti n +, failure by -, and half credit byAn exceptionally good response may be indicated by ++ and an exceptionally poor response by --

If there is a slight doubt about a success or failure the sign? eneral, however, score the response either + or -, avoiding half credit as far as it is possible to do so

If the entire response is not recorded it is necessary to record at least the score iven_ Itis not a purely ment of the examineris delayed, there is not only the danger of forgetting a response, but the judgment is likely to be influenced by the subject's responses to succeeding questions Our special record booklet contains widethe child's responses and behavior can be recorded as the test proceeds

SCATTERING OF SUCCESSES It is sometimes a source of concern to the untrained examiner that the successes and failures should be scattered over quite an extensive range of years Why, it ence answer correctly all the tests up to and including group X, and fail on all the tests beyond? There are two reasons why such is alence of an individual is ordinarily not even There are ence, and in some of these the subject is better endowed than in others A second reason lies in the fact that no test can be purely and siree of intelligence, accidents of experience and training bring it about that this intelligence ork more successfully with some kinds of material than with others For both of these reasons there results a scattering of successes and failures over three or four years

The subject fails first in one or two tests of a group, then in two or three tests of the following group, the nu until there are no successes at all Success ”tapers off” froreat while a child fails on several of the tests of a given year and succeeds with a her year This is only an extreence or of specialized experience, and does not necessarily reflect upon the reliability of the tests for children in general The e and gives the general level of intelligence, which is essentially the thing ant to know

SUPPLEMENTARY CONSIDERATIONS It would be a mistake to suppose that any set of ive us coence There are no tests which are absolutely pure tests of intelligence All are influenced to a greater or less degree also by training and by social environ on such influences should be added to the record of thea final conclusion as to the level of intelligence

The following suppleathered, when possible:--

1 Social status (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior)

2 The teacher's estience (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior)

3 School opportunities, including years of attendance, regularity, retardation or acceleration, etc

4 Quality of school work (very superior, superior, average, inferior, or very inferior)

5 Physical handicaps, if any (adenoids, diseased tonsils, partial deafness, imperfect vision, malnutrition, etc)

In addition, the exaeneral attitude of the child during the examination This is provided for in the record blanks under the heading ”comments” The comments should describe as fully as possible the conduct and attitude of the child during the exa factors as fear, tiness to answer, overconfidence, carelessness, lack of attention, etc Soe and to ed that no degree of mechanical perfection of the tests can ever take the place of good judgence is too corain, by any one who can read figures

ALTERNATIVE TESTS The tests designated as ”alternative tests” are not intended for regular use Inasroup where they are placed, they may be used as substitute tests on certain occasions So it, or the requisite material for it may not be at hand Sometimes there may be reason to suspect that the subject has becoreat convenience to have a few substitutes available

It is necessary, however, to warn against a possible misuse of alternative tests _It is not per failure in a regular test_ This would give the subject too much leeway of failure There are very exceptional cases, however, when it is legitiular tests would be obviously unfair to the subject being tested In year X, for example, one of the three alternative tests should be substituted for the reading test (X, 4) in case we are testing a subject who has not had the equivalent of at least two years of school work In year VIII, it would be per six coins, instead of the vocabulary test, in the case of a subject who calish was not spoken

In VII, it would perhaps not be unfair to substitute the alternative test, in place of the test of copying a diamond, in the case of a subject who, because of timidity or embarrass entirely too far to substitute an alternative test in the place of every regular test which the subject responded to by silence In the large majority of cases persistent silence deserves to be scored failure

Certain tests have been made alternatives because of their inferior value, some because the presence of other tests of similar nature in the same year rendered them less necessary

FINDING MENTAL AGE As there are six tests in each age group from III to X, each test in this part of the scale counts 2 roup XII, which, because of the oroup, have a combined value of 24 months, or 3 months each Similarly, each of the six tests in XIV has a value of 4 roup are given a value of 5 roup a value of 6 months each These values are in a sense arbitrary, but they are justified in the fact that they are such as to cause ordinary adults to test at the ”average adult” level