Wow. That’s a lot of tests. But that’s what science does.
Okay, let’s start with that last test. For “mental abilities test” think IQ. Stanford-Binet, Woodcock-Johnson, Wechsler, Super Mario Bros, etc. For decades now, people in the domain of psychometrics (psycho = psychological, metrics = tools of measurement) have known that such tests can be culturally biased. And so they devised tests of their tests to check for bias.
That’s two tests down, one to go.
Problem solved. But maybe not. And I do mean “maybe.” I’ll get to that shortly. A new study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, has concluded that these tests for biases in mental abilities tests are flawed. [source: ScienceDaily]
And how did the researchers make this determination? By testing the tests for bias in mental abilities tests.
Bingo! That’s a trifecta of testing!
As for the “maybe,” a cautionary point comes to mind. The study consisted of a computer simulation investigating “an amalgam of scores representing a vast sample of commonly used tests, including civil service or other pre-employment exams and university entrance exams.” In essence, a needle of bias was inserted into a huge haystack of data, and the bias was missed by commonly used tests for bias. I wonder, will this finding hold true for real-world cases?
Still, something to consider. And further test. That’s four!
Finally, for word-nerds like myself, here is the etymology of what this post is all about, Alfie:
test
late 14c., “small vessel used in assaying precious metals,” from O.Fr. test, from L. testum “earthen pot,” related to testa “piece of burned clay, earthen pot, shell” (cf. L. testudo “tortoise”) and texere “to weave” (cf. Lith. tistas “vessel made of willow twigs;” see texture). Sense of “trial or examination to determine the correctness of something” is recorded from 1590s. The verb in this sense is from 1748. The connecting notion is “ascertaining the quality of a metal by melting it in a pot.” [via the Online Etymology Dictionary]
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Tags: culture, intelligence, language
August 17th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Hi Andrew,
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve included this post in the latest Scientia Pro Publica now up over on my blog. Do drop by when you have a moment.
thanks,
Madhu