PSYCHOM~rRIKA--VOL. 2, NO. 4 DECEMBER, 1937
BuRos, OSCAR K. Educational, Psychological and Personality Tests of i936, Rutgets University Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 24. Studies in Education, No. 11. New Brunswick, N. J.: School of Education, Rutgers University, August, 1937. P. 141. $0.75. Paper. A REVIEW This manual, a supplement to Educational, Psychological and Personality Tests of 1933, 1935 and 1935, includes 353 tests (and other devices) published in 1936 and those omitted from the earlier publication, excepting certain classes which have been excluded from both issues. As the compiler recognizes, nonpaper-and-pencil tests are inadequately represented. For each test is given the following information: title, appropriate age or grade level, date, individual or group, number of forms, cost, time, author, publisher, and references (when known). Judgments as to the relative quality of the tests included are not given. A new section lists 291 books in the field of measurement, accompanied by book-review excerpts from various sources. Some of the excerpts might have been improved had the compiler paraphrased more freely instead of extracting passages verbatim. However, the ready accessibility of the opinions of several reviewers is a distinct advantage. Following the book section are indexes cf authors of the tests and books, publishers of measurement books in Englishspeaking countries, period;cals containing the reviews which are cited, and titles of the tests and books listed. This manual, having been compiled with accuracy and thoroughness, is, on the whole, admirably adapted to its purpose. To test technicians and .to those school administrators and psychologists who are interested in the testing field, Buros is offering a genuine service. DOROTtIY C. ADKINS,
The University of Chicago.
MONROE, WALTERG. and ENGELHART, MAX D. The Scientific Study of Educational Problems. New York; The Macmillan Company, pp xv -b 504. A REVIEW This book, well adapted to the improvement of research on educational problems, represents an interesting mixture of, and compromise between, the imparting of practical wisdom and incisive treatment of abstract theory. The practical admonitions on elementary matters to the tyro educationist may well produce a chuckle; the mirth cannot exceed a chuckle, because anyone acquainted with the literature of the field knows these simple directions are all too necessary. The authors clearly know what is necessary. However, many of the more advanced statistical techniques are presented, with careful attention to their application 287
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to educational research. The absence of derivations for many of these formulas is, in p a r t , compensated for by critical evaluation of their applicability to educational and psychometric problems. The authors are fully aware of the present status of educational research, and their book offers much t h a t is distinctly in advance of the field in general. hi. W. RICHARDSON.
KARL J. HOLZINGER assisted by FRANCES SWINEFORD and HARRY HARMAN. Student Manual of Factor Analysis. Prepared at the Statistical Laboratory, Department of Education, The University of Chicago, 1937. vi -5 101 pp. A REVIEW The first two chapters deal with rather general aspects of factor analysis while the next three give a detailed account of the author's bi-facter method, with a hypothetical example completely worked out. The t r e a t m e n t in these five chapters is so detailed and simple t h a t it can be followed by anyone with a thorough knowledge of elementary statistics. The sixth and seventh chapters deal briefly with other methods of multiplefactor analysis and the relationship between these methods and the hi-factor method. The theory of boundary conditions is briefly presented in the concluding chapter. These three chapters assume a background of higher algebra, m a t r i x theory, and solid analytical geometry. HAROLD GULLIKSEN.