Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2025
We have said that psychometric methods involving algorithms are completely objective—at least they are if the algorithm is in the form of a program for a digital computer. These objective procedures need Monte Carlo and other computer runs to determine their properties, but so do many equation-oriented techniques. The objective algorithms are flexible but not flaccid. They offer a way of dealing with complexities that formerly seemed beyond our grasp. As the computer revolution continues in psychometrics, we can expect objective algorithmic methods to become the rule rather than the exception.
Presidential address delivered at the annual meeting of the Psychometric Society, New York, New York, September 3, 1966.
This paper was prepared while the author was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. The investigation was supported by a Public Health Service fellowship, 1 F3, MH-28, 495-01 (PS), from the National Institute of Mental Health.