Instructing Ugandan Primary Schoolchildren in the Execution of an "Intelligence" Test

Abstract

The performances of 514 Ugandan primary school children from variously developed areas of the country were examined on the Draw-a-Man Test. These scores were compared with the repeat performances on the same test by children who received explicit instructions as to the execution of the test and a matched group of noninstructed children. Both results were then correlated with the children's academic achievement. Although there was a significant rank-order correlation between first and second drawings of all children, the instructed children had a lower test-retest correlation than their noninstructed peers, indicating teaching effect. Children who improved the most on retest were also those who had the highest general academic standing, suggesting that a general compliance to instruction (rather than practice alone) is an important determinant of performance change on this test. These results are discussed in terms of transcultural psychological research and the concept of intelligence held by the Baganda.

The dangers of unsystematic selection methods and the representativeness of 46 samples of African test-takers

“…Of the 18 samples with average IQs above 74.5, only two remained in Lynn and Meisenberg's analyses. They described these samples as "marginally acceptable" (Buj, 1981) or as "arguably [an] outlier" (Minde & Kantor, 1976), despite the fact that the original authors employed stratified sampling procedures and presented their samples as representative. Lynn and Meisenberg did not explicate their rules to assess the representativeness of samples and excluded samples because of a host of reasons, such as educational attainment, the presence of school fees, the lack of official IQ norms, poor validity of tests, and problems with age determination.…”

Intellectual Maturity in Nigerian Primary School Children

“…The severe shortage of psychologists to administer formal intelligence tests in both educational and clinical settings makes it desirable to train teachers and other relevant personnel in the use of human figure drawing tests as screening devices or as measures of intellectual maturity. Bakare (1972) and Minde and Kantor (1976) have also shown the Draw-AMan Test (a human figure drawings test which is similar to the D.A.P. test) to be useful in Nigeria and Uganda, respectively.…”

A systematic literature review of the average IQ of sub-Saharan Africans

“…We found additional studies with the DAM in Africa (Bakare, 1972;Bardet, Moreigne, & Sénécal, 1960;Minde & Kantor, 1976;Nwanze & Okeowo, 1980;Ohuche & Ohuche, 1973;Skuy, Schutte, Fridjhon, & O'Carroll, 2001). For instance, Ohuche and Ohuche (1973) administered the DAM to 202 children aged 5-11 in an experimental school in Sierra Leone, and found an average IQ of 95 in terms of US norms (Harris, 1963).…”

“…We chose not to employ this correction, because we want to compare our results to Lynn's (who did not employ the correction). It is noteworthy that several authors (Badri, 1965a;Minde & Kantor, 1976;Munroe & Munroe, 1983;Serpell, 1979), including the test developers themselves (Goodenough & Harris, 1950), have argued that the comparison of DAM scores across cultures is problematic because of cultural differences in experience with pencil drawing on paper, and because several aspects of the scoring scheme are clearly culturally loaded. These problems signal a strong need for more insight into differential item functioning of the DAM test.…”