STENOGRAPHERS, TYPISTS, AND COMPTOMETRISTS 99 
These rankings were then submitted to the official who 
had previously ranked his workers in the same way, but 
according to his own opinion of their comparative abili- 
tles as comptometrists. The agreement between the two 
Was very close. The rankings based on the tests in comp- 
tometry alone coincided with those given by the official 
111 every respect. On the basis of the tests other than the 
comptometer tests, there were two disagreements, both 
Ver y slight. It appeared that one of these operators was 
new and comparatively inexperienced and, although not 
quite as good as some of the others on the machine, 
gave indications, by her good work in the other tests, that 
she would soon surpass some of the other girls who had 
een ranked above her. The department head agreed 
Aat this was his opinion also, but said that he had ranked 
. ae gml low because he was using as a criterion only ability 
1Tl comptometry, without regard to mental ability or po 
tentiality. The other operator who had been ranked 
ni gher by him than on the basis of the tests was a very old 
a nd experienced hand who had won her rank through con- 
111Ue d practice in the same kind of work, but who was 
^knitted to be not as versatile or as capable as some newer 
§ lr ls ranked beneath her. The important fact about this 
group of tests, from the employment point of view, is 
fta t the instantaneous verdict made possible by them was 
f u bstantially the same as that rendered by the official 
ln charge of the group after he had known the individuals 
teste d for weeks, months, and even years. As a re- 
°f this experiment, the official who had been skep- 
before made a written statement in which he 
tical 
^pressed himself as entirely convinced that these tests 
^ere reliable. ... 
The above incident is related largely as an illustration