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Spearman's original computation of g : A model for Burt?
Author(s) -
Fancher Raymond E.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1985.tb01957.x
Subject(s) - psychology , deception , argument (complex analysis) , statistics , computation , raw score , arithmetic , cognitive psychology , raw data , epistemology , social psychology , computer science , algorithm , mathematics , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry
Recalculation of the statistics for Charles Spearman's classic 1904 paper, in which he introduced the concept of General Intelligence, reveals a large number of errors of many different kinds, and results considerably less theoretically ‘perfect’ than he claimed. Since Spearman appended raw data to his paper, and his errors extended into non‐essential as well as crucial aspects of his argument, selective checking of results seems a more likely explanation than deliberate deception. It also seems, however, that Cyril Burt detected several of Spearman's irregularities, and it is possible Burt learned from them how easy it is for fundamental flaws in published scientific papers to go undetected.