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Measuring Intelligence: Major Data Quality Challenge
An article in The New York Times's "Week in Review" Section on March 1st explores the serious problems those who measure intelligence and aptitude in the United States are encountering when confronted by ambiguous test scores. According to the Times, there is a sheer lack of scientific understanding, and much conflicting data, about intelligence and aptitude.
George Johnson, the Times journalist who wrote the article, tries to make sense out of various conflicting test data and psychological theories. For example, IQ scores have increased in the United States since the turn of the century. S.A.T. scores have been increasing for almost 20 years. Yet recent competitions and studies have placed American high school seniors near the bottom of industrialized nations when mathematical aptitude is tested.
While the article's author makes some interesting speculations (like the effect of computers and computer games on intelligence) he ignores history. For example, the Scholastic Aptitude Test has changed over the past fifty years. So have many intelligence tests. It appears that a large and complex longtitudinal study may be necessary to resolve the questions posed by the article.