Date of Award

Summer 7-1937

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Education

Keywords

Musical ability -- Testing, Thesis (M. S.)--Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg, 1937

Abstract

The problem consists of an evaluation of tests of musical ability to discover which tests are most reliable and useful for elementary school purposes.

In a review of the literature related to the problem an attempt was made to present different viewpoints fairly, to summarize evidence of outstanding tests, to analyze contradictory evidences for possible solution of the questions involved, and to set up criteria for the selection of the best tests.

For further evidence, four selected batteries of comparatively new tests were given to over one thousand children in grades two to six in the schools of Parsons, Kansas. Only a brief summary was given of the results from three of the batteries, but more space was given to summarizing some significant results from the statistical study of the other battery, namely the Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests.

Three new approaches were used in the attempt to discover which are the most reliable tests in the Kwalwasser-Dykema battery. The first approach was an analysis of all available reliability coefficients reported by different investigators for each of the ten tests in the battery. The second approach involved assembling fourteen sets of means for different ages, grades, nationalities, and races. These averages were analyzed and compared with results from fifteen different groups of Parsons' schools. The third approach was a study of the accuracy with which the raw scores made on each test of the battery and other tests or parts of tests were predictive of the total scores made on the whole battery of the KwaIwasser-Dykema Music Tests.

In the third approach, the purpose was not only to discover evidences as to the reliability of the tests but also to find out which brief tests actually gave the most information about the musical ability of elementary school children. The criterion of musical ability used in this was the total scores which were assumed to be the best available index of the musical ability of an individual, or at least the most practical method of ascertaining the quarter in which an individual should be classified as to musical ability.

The tests finally selected are ranked according to their probable value for use in elementary schools as follows:

1. Drake Test of Musical Memory, Forms A and B.

2. Kwalwasser-Dykema Tonal Movement.

3. Kwalwasser-Dykema Tonal Memory.

4. Seashore Pitch.

5. Seashore Tonal Memory.

6. Kwalwasser-Dykema Rhythm Imagery.

7. Kwalwasser-Dykema Pitch Imagery.

Comments

v, 88, [5] leaves ; 28 cm. Bibliography: leaves [90]-[93]

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