104  EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY
three  different  names.  Manifestly,  it  was  not  feasible  to
provide  specific  tests  for  each  of  this  large  number  of  positions. ­
  For  not  only  were  these  positions  subject  to  great
variations  from  time  to  time  in  the  kind  of  work  they  involved, ­
  but  they  were  often  differentiated  from  each  other
by  mere  technical  or  superficial  characteristics  for  which
applicants  did  not  need  to  possess  corresponding  differences
in  their  natural  equipment  and  ability.  The  differences  between ­
  tasks  were  often  differences  only  in  routine  and  in
method,  differences  which  could  easily  be  overcome  by  a
few  hours’  acquaintance  with  the  work.  On  the  other  hand,
the  preliminary  survey  also  revealed  that  among  this  great
variety  of  work  a  comparatively  small  number  of  characteristics ­
  dominated.  That  is,  it  seemed  as  if  a  large  number  of
tasks  could  be  reduced  to  a  comparatively  small  number  of
elementary  abilities,  such  as  ability  in  spelling,  copying  by
hand,  typing,  counting,  adding,  multiplying,  dividing,
working  in  fractions  and  decimals,  filing,  sorting,  taking
dictation,  transcribing,  operating  computing  machines,  and
so  forth.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  make  the  more  comprehensive ­
  survey  with  this  fact  in  mind,  and  to  describe
all  clerical  tasks,  so  far  as  possible,  in  terms  of  their  elementary ­
  requirements.  If  this  could  be  done,  it  was  to
be  expected  that  the  process  of  finding  and  applying  tests
to  these  varieties  of  work  would  be  greatly  simplified.
Instead  of  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  tests,  corresponding
closely  to  the  heterogeneous  varieties  of  clerical  tasks
differentiated  from  each  other  only  in  superficial  respects,
it  would  become  possible  to  establish  a  much  smaller
number  of  tests  designed  to  detect  only  the  more  fundamental ­
  abilities  and  therefore  susceptible  of  application  to
the  wide  variety  of  tasks  encountered.
Another  advantage  of  this  procedure  was  the  practical