The measurement of manual dexterities / by F.M. Earle ; assisted by F. Gaw.

  • Earle, F. M. (Frank Maynard), 1888-
Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The measurement of manual dexterities / by F.M. Earle ; assisted by F. Gaw. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    speed of movement predominates. (A similar relation is not so apparent in the case of those tests in which accuracy of movement is important.) Group factors may also account for the finding that training for certain trades may lead to increased proficiency in certain tests. Boys excel girls in speed of assembling nuts and bolts, in speed of tapping with one finger and in tests of wrist-movement and strength of grip. Girls excel boys in speed of tapping with different fingers in turn, in accuracy of placing, and (slightly) in the peg-board and tactual discrimination tests. Although success in manual occupations is clearly dependent on a number of factors other than manual dexterity, cogent evidence is adduced as to the value and use of manual tests as partial measures of trade proficiency. It will be obvious to the reader that much further work has yet to be done. The general trend of these results suggests that it will be well worth while to carry out such work. Numerous complex problems concerning the differen¬ tiation of motor abilities still await investigation ; and clearly it will be as unwise to rest content with such crude and imperfect measures as these still are, as to assert that manual dexterities depend entirely upon practice and are beyond the range of satisfactory measurement. The preparation of this Report and the analytic studies which preceded it have been the work of Mr. F. M. Earle, who was responsible for the organization of the experiment and the procedure adopted. The expenses of the work have been met partly by a grant for research received by the Institute from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, and partly by the special grant made by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for the Institute’s Vocational Guidance Experiment. CHARLES S. MYERS (Director) National Institute of Industrial Psychology, Aldwych House, W.C. 2. February 1930.