Deficiency and delinquency : an interpretation of mental testing / by James Burt Miner.

  • Miner, J. B. (James Burt), 1873-
Date:
1918
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deficiency and delinquency : an interpretation of mental testing / by James Burt Miner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Supt. C. A. Rogers (173)* of the Minnesota School for Feeble-Minded, and Supt. Walter E. Fernald (104) of the Massachusetts School. Both of these men recognize that psychological tests are the most hopeful way of improving this situation. A fundamental feature of the diagnosis of deficiency is the plan here advocated for designating the borderlines on a scale on the basis of a percentage definition of tested deficiency. This involves the distinction of intellectual deficiency from certain rare volitional forms of feeble- mindedness, which the tests do not at present detect. This percentage definition seems to afford the best ap- proach to a test diagnosis. It is apparent that the data are insufficient for finally establishing such a quantitative description of the lower limit for passable intellects on a mental scale. The plan, however, may be easily adjusted to new data, and meanwhile avoids some of the serious current misinterpretations of test results. While the idea of a quantitative definition of the border- line of deficiency is not new, the percentage method seems to have certain fundamental advantages over either the “intelligence quotient” of Stern (188), the “intelligence coefficient” of Yerkes (226), or the description in terms of deviation, mentioned by Norsworthy (159) and Pearson (164, 166, 167). Several investigators, including Terman (57) and Yerkes (226), are utilizing the percentage method indirectly for describing the borderline of feeble-minded- ness, but have inadequately distinguished it from the ratios. While ratio and deviation methods are possibly more serviceable for certain purposes, they are especially faulty near the borderline of deficiency, since they are affected by variations in the units of measurement and in *Numbers in parenthesis indicate the references in the bibliography at the close of the book.
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