Spearman's hypothesis tested in Kazakhstan on the items of the Standard Progressive Matrices Plus

Abstract

Spearman's hypothesis tested at the level of items states that differences between groups on the items of an IQ test are a function of the g loadings of these items, such that there are small differences between groups on items with low g loadings and large differences between groups on items with high g loadings. Empirical tests showed in one case no support, in some cases modest support, and in other cases strong support. In this study groups of Kazakh, Korean, Tatar, and Uzbek children from Kazakhstan were compared with a group of Russian children from Kazakhstan yielding outcomes of Spearman's hypothesis ranging from r=.24 to r=.78 with a Nharmonic-weighted average correlation of .67. We conclude that Spearman's hypothesis tested at the item level appears to be a more regular phenomenon than previously thought.