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A scale of performance tests.The percentile method.

A scale of performance tests.: The percentile method. The presentation of the results of tests in the form of percentile tables is a comparatively recent innovation in the history of mental tests. It has arisen naturally with the testing of large groups of individuals. The method would be impossible with few cases. It has arisen, also, from a desire to know what the distribution of a group really is in respect to the various portions that go to make up the total group. Our belief that individuals, in regard to all kinds of abilities, distribute themselves on a normal curve with the very good ones at one end and the very poor at the other, rather than into distinct types, is leading us to insist more and more upon a presentation of results that can be interpreted in this manner. The 25 and 75 percentiles so commonly used at present are the result of our desire to know what the middle 50 percent or "normal" group of the individuals tested can do. The addition of other percentile points gives us a finer means of discrimination. It has long been customary to consider the middle 50 percent normal, the upper 20 or 15 percent bright, the uppermost 10 or 5 percent very bright, the lower 20 or 15 percent poor, and the lowest 10 or 5 percent very poor. The division into 10 percentiles will allow us to increase our groups greatly, and in time to attach a definite meaning to each of the 10 percentile abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A scale of performance tests.The percentile method.

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Publisher
D Appleton & Company
Copyright
Copyright © 1917 American Psychological Association
Pages
184 –201
DOI
10.1037/11199-008
Publisher site
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Abstract

The presentation of the results of tests in the form of percentile tables is a comparatively recent innovation in the history of mental tests. It has arisen naturally with the testing of large groups of individuals. The method would be impossible with few cases. It has arisen, also, from a desire to know what the distribution of a group really is in respect to the various portions that go to make up the total group. Our belief that individuals, in regard to all kinds of abilities, distribute themselves on a normal curve with the very good ones at one end and the very poor at the other, rather than into distinct types, is leading us to insist more and more upon a presentation of results that can be interpreted in this manner. The 25 and 75 percentiles so commonly used at present are the result of our desire to know what the middle 50 percent or "normal" group of the individuals tested can do. The addition of other percentile points gives us a finer means of discrimination. It has long been customary to consider the middle 50 percent normal, the upper 20 or 15 percent bright, the uppermost 10 or 5 percent very bright, the lower 20 or 15 percent poor, and the lowest 10 or 5 percent very poor. The division into 10 percentiles will allow us to increase our groups greatly, and in time to attach a definite meaning to each of the 10 percentile abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Published: Nov 13, 2006

Keywords: percentile method; intelligence measures; testing; test results

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