Intelligence Test Ratings and Trainability of Nurses
- Author:
Rosenstein
Assistant Director The Herman E. Young Foundation for Research in Clinical Psychology Indianapolis, Indiana When in 1924 Herman H. Yonng1 made his comparison between the intelligence test ratings of nurses and their success in training at the Indiana University Training School for Nurses, he found that: 1. On an average they rated 8 percentile points above the average for high school seniors. 2. All except one came from the upper ninety per cent of high school seniors. Nearly two thirds of the nurses rated above the average for high school seniors. 3. They rated 13 percentile points above the Indiana high school senior girls who reported nursing to be their choice of life work. 4. On an average they rated 7 percentile points above the average for Indiana teachers in training. 5. The average number of credit points earned by even the lowest group of nurses was distinctly higher than the average for the entire University. 6. The students rating highest on the Intelligence Test made distinctly the highest average in both their theoretical studies and their efficiency record on practical work. 7. There was no significant difference between the efficiency records on practical work of the students who rated lowest and those who rated average on the tests, neither was there much difference between these two groups in the number of credit points earned in theoretical studies. 8. The intelligence tests results correlated higher with theoretical studies than with practical work. The second study was undertaken as a sort of follow-up on the first to see whether or not any significant changes had occurred in i Young, Herman H. Intelligence Eatings and Success of Nurses in Training. J. of Appl. Psychol., 1924, 8, 377-389. 260
the type of individual who made up the personnel of the nurse’s training group. Young’s study was made by comparing the Training School credits received with the intelligence test results of 101 students who were given the Indiana University Mental Survey Test Schedule D as employed by W. F. Book,2 and as employed by 0. H. Williams 3 in his Indiana State Mental Survey of recruits to the teaching profession.
Since the intelligence tests now in use have not reached such a degree of perfection that their results may be used unqualifiedly as indicators of the degree of intelligence or the quality of the number of varied abilities which the members of a group possess, a study must necessarily consist in comparisons of individuals within the same group or of individuals in different groups having a common point or basis of similarity.
In the present study nurses are compared with other nurses in the same group as to scholastic ratings, efficiency, and intelligence test results. Because all nurses in training must have a high school education and since first year college students are of approximately the same age it was decided to compare these nurses in training with college students. The nurses are given the psychological examination after they have been in the training school about six months.
In order to make comparisons more simple the groups of both nurses and college students were divided into percentile groups according to standards on the American Council of Education Tests. Those percentiles are collected in groups of 10 so that an individual whose rating places him among the 0-9th percentiles is in a group of individuals which made lower records on the A.C.E. Tests than 91 per cent of other college students. The 10-19th percentiles constitute a group containing individuals who did worse than 81 per cent of those taking the tests and better than 9 per cent of those tested. Thus at the 50th percentile we have two groups; the one comprised of individuals who did better than and the other worse than 50 per cent of all individuals taking the A.C.E. Tests. In a general way the 50th percentile may be thought of as the average.
Further on in this paper the writer will attempt to explain what he considers a more efficient means of describing what he calls 2 Book, W. F. Intelligence of High School Seniors, New York: The Macmillan Co., 1922. a Williams, O. H. A Mental Survey of the Kecruits to the Teaching Profession of a State, Dissertation for Doctor’s Degree, Department of Psychology, Indiana University, 1924.
“Nurse’s Trainability” by expressing it in the form of a “Nurse’s Trainability Quotient.’’
Because of various changes in the system of keeping records, it was not possible to get all the records of all the nurses as the writer would have liked, but a record of all school activities of 156 nurses was obtained upon which to base a comparison with the college students. There were 2358 college students of which 988 were women and 1370 were men.
Comparison of Nurses and College Students in Intelligence Test Ratings and Scholastic Credit Points Earned The records made by the nurses and college students were worked out in terms of the percentile scores made on the standard A.C.E. Tests given students on entrance to college. Curve 1 on the Chart shows the median or average group of college students (men and women) with their test percentile rating compared to the number of scholastic credits obtained. Curve 2 gives the same results for nurses.
In comparing these two charts one notes that the lowest percworld C,or”l fAMbarudv*,?.b#y?? CumS test Perc?*t//ts J test fczentilts T-V.C?lle<)6 Hen a n* doum C.U. College Vi/om?? _ Qchofa-stic Credits. C vrvt Z Scholastic Omjits o ,r>^> A. CoMpar?d rut*Xr>te///$?*Cf? … Compaq wiM rnfeffj?<?u . + txst ferce 7it>/?s J ??tt perc<?tl/e* ‘ 1-U- fJursts z-U- Collcji Mtn <?|/0 /*[?> ^|30 5f|^?> ^|7? 77p? /?]” Intelligence Test percentiles on A.C.E. test Chart 1 8? cr0 1 r-K. 3?
centile of nurses rates at least 1 full credit point (out of a possible total of 3) above the average for college students. “Which means at least 33% per cent scholastic superiority of this group of nurses over the same group of college students as classified by the intelligence test percentile grouping. The highest scholastic score for the upper percentile of nurses is .2 of a credit point above that of the upper percentile for college students, showing a slight advantage again for the nurses group. In fact, at no point of the curve does the college group reach the nurses group.
This same superiority seems to hold over the group of college men (Curve 4) taken separately, but on comparing the nurses group with college women only (Curve 3) we find the differences in scholastic credits received not as marked as for the total group. The upper levels of scholastic credits received are the same for both groups and the superiority of nurses shows itself only in the lower percentiles. Comparing Curves 1 and 2, it can be seen that the lowest group of nurses on the Intelligence percentile rating earned a distinctly higher scholastic rating than the average college student. So that if a prophecy were to be made one could say that the expectancy was that nurses in general would earn more and higher credit points than college men and women in the same percentile group on the A.C.E. Test ratings. Scholastic Record and Efficiency Record of Nurses In Table I, we find that the earned scholastic credit median of nurses is in the group 1.8 to 1.99; well above the actual credit
Table I Credit Points Earned by Nurses and College Students Credit Points Earned 0 - .19. .20- .39. .40- .59. .60- .79. .80- .99. 1.0 -1.19. 1.2 -1.39. 1.4 -1.59. 1.6 -1.79. 1.8 -1.99. 2.0 -2.19. 2.2 -2.39. 2.4 -2.59. 2.6 -2.79. 2.8- 2.99. Efficiency in Practical Work, I. U. Nurses No. of Cases 0 0 1 1 3 7 13 14 24 24 34 17 12 3 3 Scholastic Work, I. U. Nurses No. of Cases 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 29 32 28 22 19 10 2 0 Scholastic Work, College Students No. of Cases 202 172 178 182 206 276 232 211 160 139 135 105 75 45 36
median of 1.4 to 1.59. There are 113 out of 156 nurses whose scholastic record is above 1.59 with 14 lower than 1.4 and 29 at median level.
A system of efficiency records on practical work has been introduced into the nurse’s training school by Mrs. Ethel P. Clark, the director. Every nurse while in training is rated by each of her instructors and head nurses on personality, professional fitness, good points, weak points. A three point system is employed in the personality and professional fitness factors. The various factors rated are given below. 1. Professional Fitness 2. Personality Ratings 3. Good Points 4. Weak Points Takes Criticism Loyal Economical of Materials Reliable Interest in Work Memory Economical of Time Conscientious of Details Punctual Power of Observation Neat Worker Initiative Rapid Worker Truthful Sense of Humor Courteous Industrious Dignified Even Tempered Enthusiastic Adaptable Tactful Sympathetic Personal Appearance Resourceful Intelligence Good Health Cheerfulness Address Culture Executive Ability Interest in People Good Technical Work Professional Attitude Wins Cooperation Stimulating to Associates Poor Health Talks too much Lack of Interest’ Lack of Promptness Diffident Languidness Questions Authority Grumbles Antagonizes People Nervousness Poor Technical Work Immature Self Centered Aggressiveness Insincerity
Each instructor or head nurse rates the students on all of these factors by indicating whether they possess them in a high degree, fair degree or weak degree. Since the student nurse is on a constantly rotating service, after a couple of years she has a rating on every one of the above factors for every service on which she has worked. These ratings therefore furnish a reliable index of the student’s success in practical work and provide the best available basis for determining a student nurse’s probable success in the field of nursing after graduation.
In Table I, we find the efficiency record median or average to be just exactly the same as that of the scholastic record median, namely 1.8 to 1.99. There were 117 nurses out of 156 receiving credit higher than 1.59 and 25 receiving lower than 1.40 with 14 at median level 1.4 to 1.59.
A comparison of the scholastic and efficiency records actually shows that only three students cause the difference between identical figures in the scholastic median and efficiency median. Comparison of Psychological Test and Nursing Records On comparing the psychological test record with that of the efficiency record, we find little of any significance. Those students in the lowest percentile group in the psychological test had practically the same credit rating as those in the highest percentile; there being a difference of only .4 of a credit point between the 0-9 percentile group and the 90-99 percentile group. This seems to indicate that the paper and pencil test, through some lack in its make-up, cannot be used as a means of predicting qualitative results in the practical field of nursing. However, the students earning the highest grades on intelligence tests were in the higher groups of the efficiency records on practical work. A much better result seems to be obtained by comparing the psychological test results with theoretical class records (Curve 2). Here we see a persistent and consistent increase in the number of credit points received with an increase in intelligence test percentile rating. This was also shown to be the case in the study of Young. Students are dropped from the Training School rolls for various reasons; such as, poor scholarship, inefficiency, discipline and personality defects. Of those individuals who were dropped from the Training School for scholastic reasons, 50 per cent were below the 25th percentile on the psychological test ratings, and 75 per cent were below the 50th percentile of the psychological test ratings, showing a high degree of correlation between low scholastic ratings and low psychological test results.
Comparison of Scholastic Credits of College Students and Nurses In Table I we note comparisons of scholastic credits of both the college students and nurses in training. The median or average for the college student lies between 1.19 and 1.2 credit points and for the nurse’s group between 1.8 and 1.99, a superiority of nurses over college students of .79 credit point out of a possible total of 3.
The Nurse’s Trainability Quotient
At the Nurse’s Training School of Indiana University a credit point system is used in grading the quality of work done by a student. Thus a three point system is used with 3 as the highest grade a student may receive. In the Nurse’s Training School there are two divisions to the student’s work, viz., Theoretical Class Work and Efficiency in Practical Work. Thus a true summation of a student’s work must necessarily entail some combination and correlation of both the efficiency record on practical work and record in theoretical studies. To date this has been expressed individually in some such way as: Efficiency Record on Practical Work ?2.4: Theoretical Studies?2.3.
The writer has felt that a better and more efficient means of expressing these records would be welcome, and so has developed the “Nurse’s Trainability Quotient” as a device for such a purpose. The greatest number of credit points a nurse may earn in her studies is six, three in theoretical and three in practical studies. Thus, if she makes a total in both theoretical and practical studies of three, she is only 50 per cent efficient. If she should make a total of six she would be 100 per cent efficient. The writer feels that it would be more desirable to express scholastic standings in theoretical and practical work in these percentage ratings. The ratio between the nurse’s possible 100 per cent efficiency and her actual efficiency is called her “Trainability” and is expressed therefore in per cent as “Trainability Per Cent” or in an abstract number as her “Trainability Quotient.” For example: A student earns 2.1 credit points on her efficiency record for practical work and 1.8 credit points on theoretical studies; then “‘1 X 100 = 65 = Trainability Quotient.
b Therefore, 65 equals T.Q. or 65 equals Trainability Per Cent. The formula would be: Theoretical Grades -f- Efficiency Grades ^ ^ ^ Thus all records made in efficiency on practical work and theoretical studies could be summarized in the T.Q. and expressed in an easily understood per cent. This T.Q. idea is felt to be of such value that another study has been begun to correlate the scholastic results with intelligence test results on the basis of T.Q.’s.
Summary
The Indiana University Training School employs a probationary period of six months in the selection of its students. Students who do not qualify during this period are dropped from the rolls. All comparisons in this paper are, therefore, based upon intelligence test scores of the highly selected group by reason of survival of a process of selection in completing a high school course; a process of selection by personal interview and physical examination before admission to the training school and the selective process of a period of probation at the training school.
1. The lowest percentile group of nurses in training on the InINTELLIGENCE TEST RATINGS OF NURSES 267 telligence Test rates at least one full credit point above the average for the University students.
2. This group shows superiority in scholastic efficiency of at least 33V3 per cent over college students of the same group as classified by Intelligence Tests scores. 3. The lowest group of nurses on the Intelligence percentile rating earned distinctly higher scholastic ratings than the average college student. 4. The highest score for nurses is .2 of a credit point above that of the highest score for college students, indicating a superiority throughout the entire group. 5. At no point in the scoring does the college group come up to the nurses’ group. 6. The difference between college women and the nurses’ group is not as marked as the difference between the nurses’ group and the men’s group, or the nurse’s group and the total University group. 7. The median for average grades for efficiency in practical work is exactly equal to the median for grades received in theoretical work. This study indicates that the A.C.E. Tests as given at the Indiana University and Indiana University Training Schools for Nurses are of definite value. In the course of an hour it so distributed the members of the group that in checking up the following facts were apparent:
1. The students rating highest on the Intelligence Test received the highest averages in both theoretical and practical studies. 2. Nurses in general earn more and higher credit points than college men and women in the same percentile group on the A.C.E.
Intelligence Test ratings.
3. The records on A.C.E. Tests are of little value in predicting efficiency records in practical work. 4. The credit points earned on theoretical work vary directly and consistently with rating on the intelligence test. 5. Fifty per cent of those individuals dropped from the Nurse’s Training School for scholastic reasons were below the 25th percentile on the Intelligence Test ratings and 75 per cent were below the 50th percentile on the Intelligence Test rating. 6. The type of individual making up the group of students in the Nurse’s Training School has apparently changed very little since the previous study, maintaining both its high scholastic average and its superiority over college men and women.
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