Statistical problems in the evaluation of army tests

The introduction of psychological tests for personnel selection in the British forces has given rise to several novel problems in statistical procedure. The solutions proposed are in the main extensions of devices already familiar in educational psychology. The more important are: (i) where the criterion yields a threefold classification only, a method of triserial correlation or of biserial correlation assuming point-distributions for the extremes; (ii) where the data on which validation has to be based are drawn from a selected sample, a simplified form of Pearson's equations to correct for selection; (iii) where the best line of demarcation has to be deduced from theoretical rather than practical considerations, a formula based on the principle of minimal discrepancy.