RATING SCALES 125
(or among his acquaintance), a man of average ability,
and two other men, one midway between the highest and the
average man and one midway between the lowest and the
average man. These five men serve as standards by which
to judge all the other members of the group with reference
to the ability in question. Arbitrary numerical values have
to be assigned by the investigator to the steps in the scale
represented by these men. For example, the amount of the
ability possessed by the highest man may be set at 25, the
average man 15, and the lowest man 5, and the other men
20 and 10. The master scale for an illustrative ability then
looks like this:
CONVINCINGNESS
Consider the tact, clearness, and force with which each salesman
 presents your interests to customers.
Highest MIE vs ries rset ne ra ea 2S
High MIE, hiv not caress avs sins sie s3D)
Middle ERR CEL RIA hg
Low MIE. hl da aay
Lowest HTTP ee
The judge prepares master scales in this way for each of
the abilities in question. Needless to say, the men chosen
as representative will vary with the ability. For example,
the judge may consider the leader in one ability to be of
only average standing in another ability.
When used for interviewing purposes the numerical values
should be weighted in accordance with the importance of
each ability. The master scale for an ability very important
for the job under consideration may range from 10 to 50,
and for a less important ability from 2 to 10.
In rating the group the judge considers one person at a
time and records a numerical rating on each ability after
comparing him with the master scale. In the example given
above, the rating may be any number from 5 to 2s.
This method has been found cumbersome in use. It requires
 a good deal of time and careful thought on the part