Date of Award:

5-1949

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee

Not specified

Abstract

Prediction of future performance is attempted in almost every field of endeavor. The accuracy varies in different lines of study, and perhaps none is as subject to variability as those attempted with human beings as subjects.

When an attempt is made to ascertain in advance the performance of college students in their schoolwork, a multiplicity of complicating problems are introduced. Whereas intelligence can be fairly well isolated, it is difficult to control or even enumerated all the other factors that come into the problem of predicting grades from scores received on an intelligence examination. Among the factors that are difficult to objectively measure or control are the transference of past learning, levels of aspiration, efficiency of study habits and time spent in studying, attentiveness in class, as well as specific aptitudes of disabilities, varying difficulty of different academic courses, and susceptibility to or freedom from physiological or psychological disorders.

Even though correlations between scholastic grades and intelligence test scores will be, due to various factors of limitation, only moderately high at best, their values cannot be doubted. With high correlations, a definite relationship can be established. With lower correlations, trends can be noted. A segment analysis also may prove to be of value in establishing areas of relative strength and weaknesses in the predictive structure.

The thesis problem is one of determining certain predictive values of the American Council on Education Psychological Examination. Inasmuch as specificity is a virtue in educational measurement, the American Council test is a definite step in this direction. The aim of the test is to measure what the authors of the test consider to be scholastic aptitude. The purpose of this study is to determine the accuracy of this scholastic aptitude test in predicting grade-point averages of Utah State Agricultural College freshmen students in their first quarter in college.

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