Raven's Progressive Matrices - Uses of The Tests

Uses of The Tests

Although the tests were developed for research purposes, because of their independence of language and reading and writing skills, and the simplicity of their use and interpretation, they quickly found widespread practical application. For example, all entrants to the British armed forces from 1942 onwards took a 20 minute version of the SPM. The routine administration of what became the Standard Progressive Matrices to all entrants (conscripts) to many military services throughout the world (including the Soviet Union) continued at least until the present century. It was by bringing together these data that Jim Flynn was able to place the intergenerational increase in scores beyond reasonable doubt. Although this has become known as the Flynn Effect it had, in fact, been noted earlier by, among others, Robert L. Thorndike working with the Stanford Binet test and John Raven with the RPM.)

Another extremely important application of the tests in research was the Minnesota Twin Family Study which established the first reliable estimates of the heritability of g.

Attention should, however, be drawn to the social and political importance of an observation emerging from apparently low-level studies conducted to generate separate reference data (norms) for many countries and ethnic groups throughout the world. Because the RPM has impeccable test properties that are confirmed in study after study within these groups, it has ceased to be possible to attribute differences between ethnic groups to “test bias”.

A 2007 study provided evidence that individuals with Asperger syndrome, a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder, score higher than other individuals on Raven's tests. Another 2007 study provided evidence that individuals with classic autism, a low-functioning autism spectrum disorder, score higher in Raven's tests than in Wechsler tests. In addition, the individuals with classic autism were providing correct answers to the Raven's test in less time than individuals without autism, although erring as often.