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Mental-age score conversion and norming method

Research Method · All research methods
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Description

The article details procedures for reducing heterogeneous survey data to the common basis of mental age. For the Stanford Revision, mental ages at a common date were obtained "by using the intelligence quotients already determined as multipliers". For the group tests, tables of norms by months were constructed, since "it was necessary to build up a table of norms by months". Teachers' rankings were transmuted into mental ages by three methods: assuming a normal distribution, treating the distribution as rectangular, and treating ranks as gross scores.

Accounts

  • Statistical procedures for converting varied measures into mental ages: The article details procedures for reducing heterogeneous survey data to the common basis of mental age. For the Stanford Revision, mental ages at a common date were obtained "by using the intelligence quotients already determined as multipliers". For the group tests, tables of norms by months were constructed, since "it was necessary to build up a table of norms by months". Teachers' rankings were transmuted into mental ages by three methods: assuming a normal distribution, treating the distribution as rectangular, and treating ranks as gross scores. (Chassell et al. (1921))
  • Conversion table relating median Army Alpha scores to median Stanford-Binet mental ages: The article builds a working table (Table III) pairing median Army Alpha scores from 175 down to 10 with median mental ages from 20-6 down to 9-6, so that its high school figures can be "expressed, so far as possible, both as Alpha scores, and in terms of the Stanford-Binet Scale." The table was made up after a study of the Army, Kohs-Proctor, Kansas State Normal School, and Doll norms, and the authors state it is far from being considered final. Examples of the pairings include Alpha 175 with MA 20-6, Alpha 130 with MA 17-6, and Alpha 65 with MA 14-6. (Cobb (1922))

Claims

Key Sources

  • Chassell, C. F., & Chassell, L. M. (1921). A survey of the three first grades of the Horace Mann School by means of psychological tests and teachers' estimates, and a statistical evaluation of the methods employed. Part II. Journal of Educational Psychology, 12(5), 243–252. doi:10.1037/h0068285
  • Cobb, Margaret V. (1922). The Limits Set to Educational Achievement by Limited Intelligence. The Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. XIII, No. 8. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=The+Limits+Set+to+Educational+Achievement+by+Limited+Intelligence
Page metadata
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type research-method
id mental-age-score-conversion-and-norming-method
title Mental-age score conversion and norming method
description The article details procedures for reducing heterogeneous survey data to the common basis of mental age.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-24
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