Psychometric Theory— 25 Years Ago and Now1

This is an account of major de­ velopments in psychometrics dur­ ing the last 25 years, as seen through my eyes and evaluated from my particular points of view. Although I will make some guesses regarding future developments, I mainly want to bring the story up to date. I picked the year 1950 as a starting point for two reasons —one impor­ tant to many researchers in psy­ chology and education and one per­ sonal. The important reason is that 1950 was in the center of an Au­ gustan age for the development of psychometrics, extending from 1940 to 1960 —a period of intense activ­ ity and important developments, the likes of which may not come again nor even be needed again. The per­ sonal reason was that in 1950, as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I was being introduced to the field of psychometrics under the tutelage of William Stephenson and Leon Thurstone.

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