Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 2

by Unknown

TABLE 8

DISTRIBUTION OF FEMALE JUDGMENTS IN 10" CLASSES

Classes	18˝				36˝				72˝				108˝
	I	E	R	W	I	E	R	W	I	E	R	W	I	E	R	W	C
1 – 10	72	20	88	133	5	6	5	33	2	0	1	6	0	1	0	2	0
11 – 20	114	119	109	94	33	29	40	83	7	5	15	25	2	2	7	10	0
21 – 30	50	87	54	29	70	57	73	74	16	13	25	52	4	1	3	27	0
31 – 40	17	17	10	6	51	87	53	30	24	21	24	30	2	1	11	14	0
41 – 50	10	14	7	4	40	35	39	20	35	18	37	32	14	6	17	34	2
51 – 60	2	10	3	1	43	30	40	14	48	44	47	53	30	18	35	36	5
61 – 70	1	3	0	3	11	7	5	2	28	50	20	21	8	11	23	22	18
71 – 80	3	2	1	2	5	8	2	10	29	32	23	14	14	21	20	14	57
81 – 90	0	0	1	1	9	3	6	2	27	29	28	14	41	35	35	19	67
91 – 100	0	2	0		1	4	2	1	16	11	15	5	25	35	17	11	50
101 – 110	0		0		0	1	1	1	4	7	6	0	9	24	7	6	25
111 – 120	0		0		2	3	6	3	17	20	10	8	52	38	33	16	19
121 – 130	2		0		0	1	0		3	4	3	3	4	15	6	8	13
131 – 140			0		1	1	0		1	2	1	4	6	9	6	6	5
141 – 150			0		1	0	1		5	4	4	2	15	13	16	7	1
151 – 160			1		1	0	0		0	4	2	0	3	7	2	2	2
161 – 170					0	0	0		1	1	0	0	3	2	0	1
171 – 180					1	0	0		7	4	7	4	22	14	16	22
181 – 190						0	0		1	0	1	0	2	2	3	0
191 – 200						0	0		1	1	3	0	3	5	6	6
201 – 210						1	0		0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
211 – 220							0		0	1	0	0	1	2	0	0
221 – 230							0		0	1	0	0	1	0	6	2
231 – 240							0		2	1	0	1	3	3	2	4
241 – 250							0			1	0		0	3	0	0
251 – 260							0				0		2	0	0	1
261 – 270							0				0		1	0	0	0
271 – 280							0				0		0	0	0	0
281 – 290							0				0		0	0	0	0
291 – 300							1				2		4	2	1	1
301 – 310													0	0	0	0
311 – 320													1	0	0	0
321 – 330													0	0	0	0
331 – 340													1	0	0	1
341 – 350														0	0
351 – 360														1	1
361 – 370														0
371 – 380														0
381 – 390														0
391 – 400														2
Totals	271	274	274	273	274	273	274	273	274	274	274	274	274	273	274	272	264

Tables 7 and 8 show that the range of the judgments increases with the length of the interval judged, and that the modal class is always much nearer the lower than the upper limit. Asymmetry is characteristic of the distribution of organic data, and in certain instances, as for example writing 18 seconds, males, the choice of a 10-second class interval results in extreme asymmetry, and one is reminded of the tables which Fechner gave as examples of his logarithmic method in statistics.[130]

It is not to be expected that a method of grouping should be found which will give regularity of distribution throughout, but it is important that there should be regularity about the mode. In the table of distribution for the males (Table 7) all the intervals from idleness 18 seconds to reading 72 seconds are regular.[131] The remaining intervals, with the exception of estimating 108 seconds, are irregular.

Trial proves that for these intervals increase of the size of the class to 30 seconds is sufficient to give regular distributions, as is obvious from Table 9. Grouping by 30-second classes gives regularity for most of the female judgments, but for idleness 108 seconds and writing 108 seconds there are still slight irregularities, as Table 10 indicates.

Tables 7 and 8 show that the distribution is far less regular for the females than for the males. The fact that it becomes regular when the class interval is increased to 30 seconds suggests that the irregularities of distribution which appear in the tables are due to those influences which favor simple fractions of a minute and not to the small number of judgments.

Having now noted certain important characteristics of the time-estimation judgments and the nature of their distribution, we may examine the arithmetical means and other statistical quantities which have been determined for our data. Those quantities which have been determined for the several ages, intervals, and fillings as well as for the sexes are: (1) The Mean (M. in tables), (2) the average variability (M. V.), (3) the positive variability (+ V.), (4) the number of judgments with positive variation (No. + V.), (5) the negative variability (– V.), (6) the number of judgments with negative variation (No. – V.), (7) the relative variability (R. V.) = M + VM × 100.

Since the sums of the positive and the negative variations are equal, it is possible to make certain of the accuracy of the means and average variabilities by comparison of the + V. and – V. As this was done in all cases we feel confident of the reliability of the statistical quantities presented in the tables.