Psychological Reports, 1982, 51, 635-644.
© Psychological Reports 1982
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION TESTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH (PETER): WONDERLIC PERSONNEL TEST
S. L MACKAMAN, A. C BJTTNER, JR.,1 M. M. HARBESON.
R. S. KENNEDY,* AND D. A. STONE
Naval Biojynamics Laboratory, New Orleans, Louisiana
Summary.—To ascertain the suitability of the Wonderlic Personnel Test
for inclusion in a battery of Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental
Research (PETER) parallel forms were administered daily, without coaching
or feedback, for 19 consecutive work days to 13 Navy enlisted men who were
high school graduates. Over Days 1 to 10 and 18 to 19, unique forms were
administered; form* ww* repeated over Days 11 to 17. The mean score significantly increased from about 23 to 29 amounting to 0.7 standard score units.
Subsequent to Day 4, «ne change in performance was linear and accounted for
57% of die Days 3 to 19 variation. The standard deviations were homogeneous over all repealed and uarepeated days, and the reliability correlations
were differentially stable across all days, with a task definition of r = .70. The
poop mean increase of more Aan 21 percentiie points on the Wonderlic has implications for selection and counseling. It is noteworthy that the average subject in our group scoced equal so "stenographer" or "draftsman" on the first
occasion but typical of "engineer" or "accountant" on the last. It was concluded that the Wonderlic is suitable for inclusion in PETER.
The controversy over the adequacy of psychological testing (Glaser &
Bond, 1981) and an interest in identifying stable measures of individual differences led to the examination of the Wonderlic Personnel Test (Wonderlic,
1978) in a repeated-measures paradigm. The Wonderlic was one of more than
50 tests evaluated as part of the Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research (PETER) program (Kennedy, Bittner, Harbeson, & Jones,
1981 ).3 The specific aim of the program was to standardize a test battery
which would be sensitive to subtle decrements in human performance. Inertia!
environments such as ship motion and vibration were of particular interest because of their relevance to the Navy. However, such a test battery would have
applications to research on training and selection and studies of the effects of
drugs, toxic substances, anoxia, hyperbaria, aging, fatigue, stress, etc. The
This work was conducted under Navy Work Unit No. MF58.525-002-5027. The opinions
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department
of the Navy. Trade names of materials or products of commercial organizations are
cited where essential for pcectsioa in describing research procedures or evaluation of
results; their use does not constmice official endorsement or approval. A version of
mis paper was presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Louisville, Kentucky, April, 1981. Requests for reprints may be
sent to Alvah C Bittner, Jr., Naval Biodynamics Laboratory, FOB 29407, New Orleans,
LA 70189.
"Now with Canyon Research Group, 1040 Woodcock Rd., Orlando, FL 32802.
The name of the program has been changed to Performance Tests for Repeated Measures.