A trend showing lower Canadian IQ averages has revealed a flaw in the test, according to a recent study.
Dr. Allyson Harrison of Queen’s University examined the difference between the commonly used Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) in Canada and the United States. The research found that individuals score lower using the Canadian norms.
The flaw outlined in the study showed that a person’s raw test score could mean different things depending on which normative system is used.
Harrison said that the sample size used to create Canada’s norms may have been too small in comparison to the one used to determine American norms. She said it’s as if a “bulldozer hit the bell curve,” whereby more seem to look intellectually disabled and fewer gifted.
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“Looking at the normal distribution of scores, you’d expect that only about five per cent of the population should get an IQ score of 75 or less,” said Dr. Harrison in a statement. “However, while this was true when we scored their tests using the American norms, our findings showed that 21 per cent of college and university students in our sample had an IQ score this low when Canadian norms were used for scoring.”
According to Harrison, these findings have implications for educational and neuropsychological testing as a person’s intellectual position can vary from average to intellectually impaired depending on which norms are used.
The study stated a “sizable number of students’ scores dropped in a clinically meaningful manner when moving from the American norms to Canadian norms.”
For example, the FSIQ scores of 61 per cent of students dropped a classification level when their raw scores were scaled using Canadian as opposed to American norms.
The IQ test has been discredited over the years as other studies have suggested that it is not a reputable measure of intelligence.
For now, those hoping to get into the elite Mensa society may want to use the American norms to measure their IQ.
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