A study of the sophomore testing program at the University of Minnesota. Part 2

Abstract

By means of Fisher's "discriminant function" technique, the constants were found for an equation that maximizes the difference between majors in premedicine and majors in music, for scores on history and social science, fine arts, vocabulary, and general science tests. The combined scores, found by means of the equation for the 17 majors in each group, show no overlapping between the two groups. Similar application of Fisher's technique to scores on 5 tests for majors in English and majors in natural science results in combined scores which show only slight overlapping between these two groups of students. Discussion of two cases that according to the combined score were "misplaced" suggests the value of the combined score in guidance. Similarly found combined scores, based on 10 measures, discriminate better than scholarship records alone between 39 students dropped in senior college for poor scholarship and the 39 graduates with lowest scholarship records. Results from analysis of variance are also reported for each of the three pairs of groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)