As an indication of the degree of accuracy of measurements
of the rapidity of learning which are obtained by
the use of 5 individuals I may offer the following
figures. For one of two directly comparable groups
of 5 male dancers which were chosen from 16 individuals
which had been trained, the number of tests which
resulted in a perfect habit of white-black discrimination
was 92; for the other group it was 96. These indices
for strictly comparable groups of 5 individuals each
differ from one another by less than 5 per cent.
Similarly, in the case of two groups of females, the
indices of modifiability were 94 and 104. These
figures designate the number of tests up to the point
at which errors ceased for at least three successive
series (30 tests).
The determination of the probable error of the index
of modifiability further aids us in judging of the
reliability of the measure of the rapidity of learning
which is obtained by averaging the results for 5 individuals.
For a group of 5 males (Table 43, p. 243) the index
was 72 +- 3.5; and for a group of 5 females of the
same age as the males and strictly comparable with
respect to conditions of white-black training, it
was 104 +- 2.9. A probable error of +- 3.5 indicates
the reliability of the first of these indices of modifiability;
one of +- 2.9, that of the second.
I do not doubt that 10 individuals would furnish a
more reliable average than 5, but I do doubt whether
the purposes of my experiments would have justified
the great increase in work which the use of averages
based upon so large a group would have necessitated.
Further discussion of the index of modifiability may
be postponed until the several indices which serve
as measures of the efficiency of different methods
of training have been presented in the next chapter.
From the data which constitute the materials of the
present chapter it is apparent that the results of
the discrimination method are amenable to much more
accurate quantitative treatment than are those of the
problem method or the labyrinth method. But I
have done little more as yet than describe the method
by which it is possible to measure certain dimensions
of the intelligence of the dancer, and to state some
general results of its application. In the remaining
chapters it will be our task to discover the value
of this method and of the results which it has yielded.
CHAPTER XV
THE EFFICIENCY OF TRAINING METHODS
The nature of the modifications which are wrought
in the behavior of an organism varies with the method
of training. This fact is recognized by human
educators, as well as by students of animal behavior
(makers of the science of comparative pedagogy), but
unfortunately accurate measurements of the efficiency
of our educational methods are rare.
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The Dancing Mouse from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
