From: scott@bogus.network.address (Scott Tai)
Subject: RESULTS FOR TAI STANDARD INTELLIGENCE TEST
Reply-To: scott@bogus.network.address (Scott Tai)
Organization: House of Tai
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 03:11:00 GMT


ecsd@tfs.com (Eric C. S. Dynamic) writes:
: Here's your homework exercise, Scott - write for us, an 
: essay as to why standardized tests *can* be useful - you're 
: free to preface it with a disclaimer, no problem.

..

The Tai Standard Test of Intelligence
-------------------------------------

With the help of Dr. N.O. Tai, I've compiled readability
statistics for the last 216 posts on rec.org.mensa.  All
posts for each user were saved in a separate file.  A
shell script was used to strip all header information,
and any line beginning with | or > was assumed to be an
excerpt from a preceding article.  Then, each file was
hand-edited to remove any remaining excerpts and all 
signature information.  The number of words and posts
for each individual were then counted.

All FAQ posts were excluded, and Tai posts were excluded
to avoid test bias.
..

userid		words	posts	words/post
------		-----	-----	----------
ecsd    	9322	 10++	  932+++
gmark   	2254	 21++	  107-
mike_steiner    1982	 19++	  104-
franklin        1964	  8+	  246++
edp     	1538	 11++	  140+
radams  	1178	  4+	  295++
rhs     	1061	  4+	  265+
jwp     	1002	  7+	  143+
jcooley 	 873	 11++	   79-
hollombe         787	  7+	  112-
crawford         773	  4+	  193+
rr      	 696	  6+	  116-
mdiehl  	 527	  6+	   88-
jt      	 361	  4+	   90-
moroney 	 345	  3-	  115-
skh4161 	 344	  3-	  115-
dobbs   	 333	  7+	   48--
ivaliote         331	  4+	   83-
chorley 	 330	  8+	   41--
cs3ea3cd         252	  1-	  252++
wiegand 	 245	  4+	   61-
ehp     	 243	  1-	  243++
phil    	 234	  2-	  117-
BFFN    	 229	  5+	   46--
banghartr        226	  3-	   75-
ksdavis 	 224	  2-	  112-
matt    	 213	  3-	   71-
eager   	 199	  2-	  100-
	       -----	---	 ----
total*	       30208	216	  140

average posts/person:     3.7
average words/post:	139.8

++: far greater than average
 +: greater than average
 -: less than average
--: far less than average

*total words and posts include those from omitted posters.
..

If a user had a total of less than 190 words, he or
she was excluded from further readability testing, as
this was not considered to be a large enough sample
for valid results.
..

The following posters were omitted (words < 190):
-------------------------------------------------
lana(182), phz(179), smaurer(154), drich(129),
Dave.Aronson(118), johnson(115), tzs(113), sue(102),
ednclark(99), zlsiida(90), vance(78), jheath(77),
cp7927(76), joe(68), dmarshal(65), mcbeanb(54),
ta-vg11(53), grohol(53), robin(47), Zane.Wilson(39),
Craig.Wagner(37), userDHAL(33), jlc5f(31), al037(31),
ata(29), erc(20), dwolff(18), kaeding(16), iqan0(15),
ken(12), ron(9).
..

The average sentence length and word length for all
posters not omitted were calculated:
..

userid		 sent  	word
------		 ----  	----
BFFN		 20.7+  4.30-
banghartr        15.0-  4.92+
chorley          33.3+  4.33-
crawford         20.2+  4.28-
cs3ea3cd         23.0+  4.43-
dobbs    	 11.3-  4.53+
eager++    	 18.0+  4.63+
ecsd     	 24.5+  4.15-
edp      	 16.7-  4.63+
ehp++      	 24.2+  4.63+
franklin--       16.4-  4.37-
gmark--    	 16.7-  4.33-
hollombe--       14.2-  4.30-
ivaliote--       12.2-  4.45-
jcooley          21.6+  4.27-
jt--       	 17.1-  4.24-
jwp      	 17.8-  4.64+
ksdavis++        22.3+  4.58+
matt     	 13.3-  4.72+
mdiehl--   	 10.5-  4.06-
mike_steiner--   17.1-  4.40-
moroney          16.8-  4.48+
phil--     	 11.7-  4.38-
radams++   	 20.5+  4.71+
rhs      	 14.7-  4.79+
rr++       	 19.6+  4.51+
skh4161          17.4-  4.81+
wiegand--        15.7-  4.29-
                 ----  	----
average		 17.9	4.47

 +: sentence/word length above average
 -: sentence/word length below average

++: above average in both categories
--: below average in both categories
..

High and low scores for sentence and word length
were counted.
..

sl high (w > 20)		sl low (w < 15)
----------------		---------------
chorley	    33.3		mdiehl-	   10.5
ecsd	    24.5		dobbs	   11.3
ehp+	    24.2		phil	   11.7
cs3ea3cd    23.0		ivaliote   12.2
ksdavis	    22.3		matt	   13.3
jcooley	    21.6		hollombe   14.2
BFFN	    20.7		johnson	   14.4
radams+	    20.5		rhs	   14.7
crawford    20.2

wl high  (l>4.6)		wl low  (l<4.3)
----------------		---------------
banghartr   4.92		mdiehl-    4.06
johnson     4.86		ecsd	   4.15
skh4161     4.81		jt	   4.24
rhs         4.79		jcooley	   4.27
matt        4.72		crawford   4.28
radams+     4.71		wiegand    4.29
jwp         4.64
eager       4.63
edp         4.63
ehp+        4.63

+: high in both sentence and word length
-: low in both sentence and word length
..

Simple and complex sentences were counted and
expressed as a percentage of the total sentences:
..

userid		%simple(n) %comp(n)
------		---------- --------
BFFN              45% (5)   36% (4)
banghartr         47% (7)   40% (6)
chorley           10% (1)   40% (4)
crawford          38% (15)  31% (12)
cs3ea3cd          18% (2)   55% (6)
dobbs             62% (18)  21% (6)
eager             18% (2)   64% (7)
ecsd              35% (129) 36% (132)
edp               28% (26)  40% (37)
ehp               20% (2)   30% (3)
franklin          56% (68)  30% (36)
gmark             44% (60)  39% (54)
hollombe          68% (38)  23% (13)
ivaliote          63% (17)  33% (9)
jcooley           34% (14)  32% (13)
jt                62% (13)  29% (6)
jwp               43% (25)  38% (22)
ksdavis           30% (3)   40% (4)
matt              50% (8)   38% (6)
mdiehl            58% (29)  32% (16)
mike_steiner      32% (38)  36% (42)
moroney           52% (11)  38% (8)
phil              80% (16)  10% (2)
radams            32% (18)  46% (26)
rhs               56% (40)  29% (21)
rr                39% (14)  33% (12)
skh4161           60% (12)  35% (7)
wiegand           44% (7)   31% (5)
..

High and low scores for complex and simple sentences
were counted.
..

complex (%>=40)	n	simple (%>=60) n
-------------------	------------------
eager	   64% (7)	phil	  80% (16)
cs3ea3cd   55% (6)	hollombe  68% (38)
radams     46% (26)	ivaliote  63% (17)
banghartr  40% (6)	dobbs	  62% (18)
chorley    40% (4)	jt	  62% (13)
edp        40% (37)	skh4161	  60% (12)
ksdavis    40% (4)

(Compound and compound-complex sentences were omitted.)

..

Next, four readability tests were applied to the
files for each user.  Higher scores indicate
longer words and sentences, among other things.
The correlation between higher scores and higher
intelligence is likely to be quite high.
..

userid		Kincaid	Auto Colemn* Flesch
------		------- ---- ------- ------

BFFN	 	  9.1    9.2    8.1    8.3
banghartr 	 10.4    9.2   11.2   13.4
chorley 	 13.8   15.6    8.8   10.9
crawford 	  9.9    8.8    7.9    9.0
cs3ea3cd 	 10.6   10.9    9.0   10.1
dobbs	 	  7.1    5.6    8.2    8.6
eager	 	 11.2    9.4    9.8   13.5
ecsd	 	 10.5   10.4    7.4    8.7
edp	 	  9.0    8.7    9.7    9.0
ehp	 	 11.5   12.5   10.2   10.9
franklin 	  9.4    7.4    8.1   10.6
gmark	 	  8.4    7.3    7.9    8.6
hollombe 	  7.3    5.9    7.4    8.2
jcooley 	  9.9    9.5    8.0    8.8
jt	 	  8.1    7.1    7.4    8.3
jwp	 	  9.9    9.3    9.8   10.8
ksdavis 	 10.7   11.3    9.8   10.4
matt	 	  9.2    7.4    9.7   11.5
mdiehl	 	  5.1    2.9    5.2    7.3
mike_steiner 	  8.6    7.8    8.3    8.6
moroney 	  8.6    8.1    8.8    8.7
phil	 	  7.4    5.0    7.4    8.7
phz	 	  3.9    3.5    6.2    6.6
radams	 	 11.6   11.0   10.5   13.3
rhs	 	 10.3    8.5   10.3   13.3
rr	 	  9.5    9.6    9.2    8.8
skh4161	 	 10.8    9.9   10.8   13.2
wiegand 	  9.0    6.6    7.6   10.2

*Colemn = Coleman-Liau

..
High and low scores for each readability scale
were counted.
..

Kincaid high (s > 10)		Kincaid low (s < 8)
---------------------		-------------------
chorley+	 13.8		mdiehl---	5.1
radams+++	 11.6		ivaliote--	6.5
ehp++		 11.5		dobbs-		7.1
eager++		 11.2		hollombe---	7.3
skh4161++	 10.8		phil--		7.4
ksdavis++	 10.7
cs3ea3cd+	 10.6
ecsd+		 10.5
banghartr++	 10.4
rhs++		 10.3

Auto high    (s > 10)		Auto low    (s < 6)
---------------------		-------------------
chorley+	 15.6		mdiehl---	2.9
ehp++		 12.5		phil--		5.0
ksdavis++	 11.3		dobbs-		5.6
radams+++	 11.0		ivaliote--	5.6
cs3ea3cd+	 10.9		hollombe---	5.9
ecsd+		 10.4

Coleman high(s > 9.5)		Coleman low (s<7.5)
---------------------		-------------------
banghartr++	 11.2		mdiehl---	5.2
skh4161++	 10.8		ecsd		7.4
radams+++	 10.5		hollombe---	7.4
rhs++		 10.3		jt		7.4
ehp++		 10.2		phil--		7.4
eager++		  9.8
jwp		  9.8
ksdavis++	  9.8
edp		  9.7
matt		  9.7

Flesch r* high (s>11)		Flesch r low(s<8.5)
---------------------		-------------------
eager++		 13.5		mdiehl---	7.3
banghartr++	 13.4		ivaliote--	8.0
radams+++	 13.3		hollombe---	8.2
rhs++		 13.3		BFFN		8.3
skh4161++	 13.2		jt		8.3
matt		 11.5

+++: high in 3 other		---: low in 3 other
 ++: high in 2 other		 --: low in 2 other
  +: high in 1 other		  -: low in 1 other

* Flesch (readability only)
..

Conclusion
----------

radams appears to be the most intelligent poster to
rec.org.mensa, followed by ehp and eager.

The posts are the only tangible information one has
about rec.org.mensa posters, and these conclusions 
are based solely on this information.  Cases like
this are when standardized tests are useful...


--
Scott Andrew Tai

Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa