just as a theoretical exersice, what sort of questions would you put on a test designed to measure intuition?
The best I could do would be a question in which there was no possible way a person could “know” the answer and was forced to guess. For example:
The answer to this question is:
a) A
b) B
c) C
d) D
e) E
Another question might be:
What range do you feel your final mark on this test will fall into?:
a) 0-20%
b) 21-40%
c) 31-50%
d) 51-70%
e) 71-100%
Now for any kind of statistically relevant results, at least 50 questions would have to be asked. What other sort of other questions would work for an test of intuition? I have a “feeling” that there are some dopers who have some great ideas…
Thank you, that was very interesting. I was basing the idea of measurability on the concept of a wide variety of divergently cognitive questions that although they lacked “knowable” answers, they would have answers that were capable of being correct/incorrect. To make the test standardised, I had to avoid open ended, situationally recursive questions (how many pencils in the teacher’s desk drawer presupposes a lot of things - pencils, desks, drawers etc).
The concept of construct validity is especially relevant. Of course I have no real way of knowing what if anything the test is measuring, or if my system of data collection and evaluation contributes to any valid answer. Still, my method in these things is to design an experiement, look at the data collected, and then refine the experiement to eliminate the artifacts caused by construct validity issues, as well as other sources of experiemental error and inefficiency.
Still, if you have some suggestion for a question, it would be interesting to see what sort of thing you would come up with.
Looking back on my OP, it does appear that my intuition was wrong, though, as there have been more than 150 views and no actual questions created. Failed my own test, I guess.
Sounds like you’re trying to test “psi” or ESP rather than intuition. Intuition (in my understanding) requires at least some knowledge of a situation. E.g. my friend says A but I intuit he actually means B. Or in a more extreme case, one evening I just got the strongest feeling that my girlfriend was up to no good with another guy - and I intuited who it was and where they were (and I walked into the bar and did indeed find them there together). That occurrence was highly spooky, but IMO intuitive and not necessarily supernatural.
How about a question where you flash a bunch of dots on a screen for 2 seconds then ask “how many dots?”
To me at least, “intuition” means the ability to semi-subconsciously collect a large amount of contextual information and use it to make accurate deductions and predictions. Someone with intuitive navigation skills, for instance, isn’t guessing, but instead depending on landmarks, the sun, visual memories, smells, and innumerable other clues. Such a person might not be able to name all the things she is depending on, but is able to use them nevertheless.
This is completely at odds with a multiple-choice test, which is specifically designed to strip away all contextual information.
If you must do this, though, use photographs. Text just doesn’t convey enough information. Play a game of “is the left or right trail the right one” or “spot the pedophile”. And make sure to limit the time to a few seconds; intuition is about making a decision on the spot, not consciously analyzing details.
These are all great points, and I conceed that I was remiss in defining “Intuition”. I guess that I meant more the making a valid conclusion with very little data type of intition. I also would like to spot a talent for making very good guesses, in the absense of all data.
Still I want the questions to be a bit beyond the count the dots that were flashed for a microsecond. Is that intuition or just incredibly sharp perception?
…which is something else entirely and is moving into the realm of the supernatural.
Intuition is very sharp perception - albeit usually a subconscious consolidation of extant diverse information into a conclusion or ‘feeling’ that the person doesn’t perceive as thought-led.
I knew you were going to ask this question.
Give me 100 points.
Perhaps have pictures of five guys - four of which are upstanding citizens and one who is a convicted murderer and then ask which of these five would you NOT hire as a day laborer at your home. Make sure they are all of the same ethnicity and about the same age and look somewhat similar in every other respect.
Show five lottery tickets - one of which is the winning ticket to a huge jackpot - and ask if you can pick which ticket won.
Show five happy couples - pick which one of the five couples are still together 10 years later and not divorced.
Pictures of five students - select the student who finished college as the Valedictorian and make sure the other four all quit school. Pick the one who is the Valedictorian.
Doing choices like above, you have a 1 in 5 chance of just being lucky on each question, but if you are “lucky” more than the average test taker, then one might assume you have some more intuition than others.