APPLYING  THE  RESULTS

47

this  standard  adapts  itself  to  the  varying  conditions  of
supply  and  demand.  On  the  one  hand,  it  sets  a  maximum,
°r  limit  beyond  which  applicants  should  not  be  hired  for
the  work  in  question;  that  is,  as  long  as  the  work  and
working  conditions  remain  the  same.  At  the  same  time
h  sets  an  ideal  which  guides  the  employment  office  in
making  its  choices,  enabling  it  to  select  from  a  group  of
available  candidates  those  most  likely  to  succeed.
We  are  now  prepared  to  take  up  the  second  of  the  two
Questions  proposed  at  the  outset:  How  and  with  what
success  were  the  tests  given  to  a  large  number  of  applicants ­
  in  the  employment  office?
For  an  experimenter  to  find  certain  experimental  results ­
  is  one  thing,  and  to  turn  them  over  to  an  employment
office  for  use  under  practical  conditions  is  quite  another.
The  first  step  was  to  find  some  one  who  could  give  the
tests  with  the  proper  degree  of  intelligence  and  understanding, ­
  a  step  particularly  important  at  the  outset  when
the  work  had  not  yet  been  placed  upon  a  firm  footing.
This  need  was  met  in  the  person  of  a  young  woman,  a
college  graduate,  who  had  had  some  courses  in  psychology.
This  young  woman  was  first  taken  out  into  the  shops  and
mstructed  in  the  technique  of  giving  tests  and  allowed  to
get  as  much  practice  as  possible.  At  the  same  time  the
directions  for  giving  the  tests  were  carefully  standardized
and  written  down  so  as  to  insure  practical  uniformity  in
giving  them  at  all  times.  The  detailed  results  of  this  work
are  given  in  the  Appendix  and  in  Chapter  XIV.  Then
a  room  near  the  employment  office  was  set  aside  for  the
purpose  of  giving  tests,  and  there  examinations  were  conducted ­
  as  prescribed,  first  in  small  numbers,  then  in  ever-J
 ucreasing  numbers.
The  results  of  these  selections  were  of  the  utmost