UD professor develops new IQ test
A new, short, streamlined and straightforward IQ test, designed by a University of Delaware professor, will be available for use beginning in May.
The Wide Range Intelligence Test (WRIT) is designed for persons ages 4 to 80 and takes approximately a half hour to administer.
Its developer, Joe Glutting, UD professor of education, will make a presentation on the WRIT at a meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists in April. Wayne Adams and David Sheslow of the A. I. du Pont Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Del., where Glutting is a consulting statistician, also worked to develop the test.
"Older IQ tests were like 1950s cars-fins, bells and whistles that didn't really contribute to the car's function. When the energy crunch came, cars were redesigned to be more efficient. The energy crunch in this case is that psychologists are required to serve more people in less time and need more efficient testing tools that still get the job done," Glutting said.
"Usually IQ tests are designed for different age levels, such as children or adults, and take at least an hour to administer," he said.
The WRIT is divided into two verbal subtests. The straight vocabulary test may begin with something like "point to your mouth," and work up to the definition of "senectitude" (old age; the final stage of the normal life span). The other verbal subtest requires the child or adult to complete an analogy dictated by the examiner such as "chaff is to wheat as dregs is to -----------."
Visual subtests include matrices where persons evaluate a series of pictures and select the option that best completes the design. For young children, this may be selecting the red crayon from green, yellow and white crayons to match the existing red ones in the design. At the other end of the scale, abstract, complex designs are used.
Another visual test involves recreating designs using three kinds of diamond chips.
The WRIT has been tested nationally through a network of psychologists associated with Wide Range Inc., which will publish the test, to ensure its reliability. The sampling of 2,000 adults and children follows census figures, in terms of sex, education and racial balance.
"One of our goals was to make the test interesting and fun, and so I visited toy stores to get ideas on what children like. We have tried to be original in our designs, and, unlike many IQ tests, we use bright colors in the visual part and actual chips that are diamond shaped, V-shaped, or what I called lightning bolts, instead of just paper testing," Glutting said.
People who have taken the test have responded positively.
"People like it. It's user friendly, like playing a game. It's short and holds their interest," says Glutting, says.
A graduate of Tarkio College, with a master's from Indiana University and a doctorate in school psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, Glutting was an elementary school psychologist for several years. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on testing kindergarten students and worked for an educational testing company before joining the UD faculty 12 years ago.
He has developed other tests such as the Student Styles Questionnaire, which assesses children's personalities in a positive manner.
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For press release information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Glutting, contact:
Beth Thomas
[email protected]
(302) 831-8749
March 25, 1999
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