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The Validity of the Successive Intervals Method of Psychometric Scaling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

William W. Rozeboom
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Lyle V. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Chicago

Abstract

The degree to which scale values computed by the method of successive intervals diverge from theoretically “true” values is seen to be due to three types of error: error due to inequalities in variances of the distributions from which the scale values are computed, error due to non-normality of the distributions, and sampling error. The contribution of each type of error to the total error is evaluated; the latter is seen to be surprisingly small under appropriate conditions. Certain aspects of the formal methodology underlying scaling procedures are also briefly considered.

Type
Original Paper
Copyright
Copyright © 1956 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

This paper reports research undertaken in cooperation with the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces, and has been assigned number 475 in the series of papers approved for publication. The views or conclusions contained in this report are those of the authors. They are not to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views or indorsement of the Department of Defense.

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