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A Factorial Study of Number Ability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Clyde H. Coombs
Clyde H. Coombs*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

In order to investigate certain hypotheses concerning the nature of number ability, and, secondarily, the nature of perceptual speed, a battery of thirty-four tests was given to 223 Chicago high school seniors and the data were factored by the centroid method. Seven primary factors were identifiable upon rotation. Several deductions are made relative to the interpretation of the factors and relative to the consistency of the data with the hypotheses which were to be tested.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , June 1941 , pp. 161 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © 1941 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

I wish to express my great appreciation of the aid of Professor L. L. Thurstone whose generosity made this study possible. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the aid of Mr. Ledyard Tucker in the use of the I.B.M. machines for obtaining the intercorrelations and the centroid factor loadings, and to both him and Mr. Harold Bechtoldt for aid in the testing of subjects.

References

* E. W. Scripture. Arithmetical prodigies. American J. Psychol., 1891, 4, 1-59.

† Frank D. Mitchell. Mathematical prodigies. Amer. J. Psychol., 1907, 18, 61-143.

‡ A. Binet. Psychologie des Grands Calculateurs et Joueurs d’échecs, Paris: Hachette, 1894, pp. 364 ff.

E. H. Lindle.v and A. L. Bryan. An arithmetical prodigy. Psychol. Review, 1900, 7, 135

§ F. D. Mitchell, op, cit., p. 131.

* Henry Werner and Alfred Straus. Problems and methods of functional analysis in mentally deficient children. J. Abn. & Soc. Psychol, 1939, 34, 37-62.

† E. Guttmann, Congenital arithmetic disability and acalculia, British J. med. Psychol, 1937, 16, 18.

* The time limit, for the fore-exercise was not rigidly adhered to except in the case of the substitution tests.

* A paper presenting the logic upon which the criterion is based and the critical values for a given number of tests in the battery is in preparation.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* All entries have been multiplied by 100 to eliminate the decimal.

* Dr. H. O. Gulliksen ha pointed out that these deductive tests seem to have a serial response caracter.

* L. L. Thurstone. Primary mental abilities, Psychometric Monographs, 1938, No. 1. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, pp. 121.

† L. L. Thurstone. Factorial Studies of Intelligence, Psychometric Monographs, 1941, No. 2. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, pp. 94.