Ebook: Personnel Selection in the British Forces

"During the second World War, scientific methods of personnel selection were applied in the Royal Navy, the Army and A.T.S., and the Royal Air Force on a scale quite unprecedented in Britain. This development has naturally aroused widespread interest, and a desire for further information beyond that provided by articles in the popular Press or in technical psychological journals. The present book attempts, therefore, to give an account of the procedures used and the results obtained. It is addressed both to the industrialist or educationist who hopes that the methods may be of value in the peace-time selection of employees, students or pupils, and to the student of psychology or to the personnel officer who wishes to know what psychological discoveries were made and what techniques were found most valuable. If for this reason it falls between two stools, we must apologise; it is not easy to write a simple, readable and interesting description for the former and at the same time to give the latter all the technical details that he needs. Statistical terms, formula and calculations have been kept to the barest minimum and will, it is hoped, be published elsewhere.
Our primary aim has been to describe such novel contributions as were made in the Fighting Services. But although space has not allowed a comprehensive survey of peace-time selection and guidance, we have tried to view our methods and results in this broader setting, and to integrate them with recent developments in civilian vocational and educational psychology.
After an historical introduction, Part I is concerned with the organisation of selection, the general procedures employed, and the work of psychologists in the Royal Navy, Army and A.T.S., and the R.A.F. Part II takes up the principles of selection and guidance which have evolved both from pre-war investigations and from war-time experience. It reviews the techniques of interviewing and testing, together with evidence of their merits and defects, in some detail. Each chapter is preceded by a general summary or abstract, and the main conclusions relevant to peace-time work are brought together in the final chapter."