A psychological test that is given to one subject at a time. The Wechsler Intelligence Scales, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the Stanford-Binet Test are examples of tests designed primarily for individual administration.
Many individual tests require carefuloral questioning or close observation of responses. On the Stanford-Binet Test, for example, the verbal part includes direct question and answer exchanges between the examiner and examinee, and the performance part contains items which require observation and timing. On the TAT, a “picture-story” technique, the examiner attempts to gain insight into the subject’s personality dynamics by asking questions about the characters, the ending, and where the story came from. These operations could not be carried out on a group basis.
Some individual tests can be sufficiently modified and simplified to be administered to groups. The Rorschach Test may be handled in this way. Ink blots can be projected on a screen, and the subjects asked to write what they see.
In contrast to the individual administration of this test, they are not asked what part of each blot they use in each response, nor are they asked a series of questions after the entire group of blots has been shown. Here group administration gains time but loses much valuable information.
Group methods are usually applied when large numbers of people have to be processed in a short period of time. The first important group intelligence test, the Army Alpha, was devised to meet such a need during World War I.
Other representative group tests are the Otis Self-Administering Test of Mental Ability, the Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Tests, the Miller Analogies Test, the Raven Progressive Matrices, and the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
