XVI

THE  SCOPE  OF  PSYCHOLOGICAL  TESTS
WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE  SELECTION  OF
EXECUTIVES
At  the  conclusion  of  the  section  on  psychological  tests,
the  question  regarding  the  scope  of  such  tests  as  applied
to  problems  of  employment  naturally  arises.  This  question ­
  may  be  divided  into  two  phases.  First,  over  how
great  a  variety  of  individuals  and  types  of  work  may  the
use  of  tests  be  extended?  Secondly,  how  much  can  tests
tell  us  about  an  individual?  The  first  question  concerns
the  quantitative  value  of  the  tests.  It  raises  the  point
as  to  the  extent  in  classes  of  work  and  varieties  of  people
to  which  tests  can  be  successfully  applied.  The  second
question  is  concerned  largely  with  the  qualitative  value
of  tests.  It  raises  the  point  as  to  whether  the  information
about  an  individual  which  tests  afford  is  sufficiently  comprehensive ­
  and  reliable  to  form  a  basis  for  judging  that
individual.
The  first  of  these  two  questions  has  already  been  answered, ­
  in  part,  in  the  preceding  chapters.  In  the  experiments ­
  described  it  was  seen  that  tests  were  successfully ­
  applied  to  inspectors,  assemblers,  machine  operators,
office  clerks  of  various  kinds,  stenographers,  computingmachine
  operators,  time-study  men,  draftsmen,  toolmakers
  and  tool-maker  apprentices.  This  is  by  no  means
a  comprehensive  list  of  kinds  of  work,  but  it  is  neverthe-188