Nature of the Scale
The Dumont-Willis Extra Easy Evaluation Battery (DWEEEB) is rip off revision of an ever popular test we all know and love. It is an individually administered clinical instrument for assessing none of the intellectual abilities of children. Although intended to assess no ability in children aged 6 years through 16 years, 11 months, it has found extensive use by those wishing a quick and dirty assessment. Although it retains little if any essential features of its predecessor, it provides current normative data and updated test materials, test content, and administration procedures. As with its predecessors, a child’s performance on the DWEEEB is summarized by the three composite scores: the Very Idiotic Quotient (VIQ), the Probably Idiotic Quotient (PIQ), and the Full of Shirt Idiotic Quotient (FSIQ).
Underlying Conception of Intelligence
Intelligence can manifest itself in many ways (none of which are measured here), and it is that reason that Dumont and Willis conceived of intelligence not as a particular ability by as an aggregate and global entity. In the manuscript for their tome, The Measurement of Other Children’s Intelligence (unfortunately lost when moved from one apartment to another) they summarized intelligence as the “vocal tic of psychologists. It is the capacity for the individual to take a stupid test and then have someone generalize from it how well s/he (added for political correctness) will do on some other stupid task.” Each activity in this assessment is intended to reflect all intelligent behavior. Assessors will find this test especially important when they have predetermined ideas about how a child should perform. Normative data is provided so that the scores can be manipulated to serve the purpose of the evaluator. (You would do it anyway. This test does it for you!)
Antecedents of the Scale
The genealogy of the DWEEEB began the day testers decided to give tests the way they wanted and to ignore how the test publishers described. Expert testers (that’s you) know better how a test should be made and administered than do any of those “Ivory tower” bureaucrats and even more than those number crunching nerds who call themselves statisticians. Since the day of castrating tests – like the Stanford Binet, the CELF-R, the DTLA-1 (2, 3), and even that most venerable of all tests: the WRAT – visions of a quick and dirty IQ test have loomed in our heads. If only someone would develop and publish one, we could use it and blame the publisher for the results. Who cares if its good….its published! That, all by itself, makes it usable and justifiable.
Development of the DWEEEB
Research indicates a lot about the use of short form IQ tests. None of it will be quoted here. You don’t need the research. You are the expert. (Keep saying that to yourself. Repeat it like a sacred mantra.) Besides, most of what the research says would suggest you shouldn’t do what you are going to do with this instrument, so not knowing about it is probably best.
It would be nice to say that the development of the DWEEEB took a long time, just like it would be nice to say that there is an Easter Bunny. Unfortunately, it ain’t so. TheDWEEEB took maybe 10 minutes to create and it had its inception over a bottle of Bud light.
Organization of the Scale
The DWEEEB is composed of 7 subtests, all revolving around a single item and a single concept. As mentioned earlier, it is organized into two scales: the VIQ and the PIQ. Table 1.1 lists the subtests under their respective groups; the number before the subtest indicates the subtest’s position in the standard order of administration. (This order can obviously be changed at the whim of the expert. That is of course, YOU. Feel free!)
Table 1.1 The DWEEEB Subtests Grouped According to Scale
| 2. Name This | 1. Silly Put Together |
| 4. Jeopardy Question | 3. What’s Missing |
| 5. By the Numbers | |
| 6. Likeables | |
| 7. I Know What to Do |
The child’s performance on these silly measures yields three composite scores. The sum of the scaled scores on the Verbal section yields the VIQ, and the sum of the scaled scores from the Performance section yields the PIQ. Add them together and what do you get? The FSIQ.
Table 1.2 Description of the DWEEEB Subtests
| Silly Put Together | A single puzzle of a common object, presented in any configuration the expert decides, which the child assembles to form the meaningful whole. |
| Name This | The child is asked to verbally describe what the object is that was created during the Silly Put Together subtest. |
| What’s Missing | The common object created during the Silly Put Together subtest is missing an important element which the child identifies. |
| Jeopardy Question | A single question that taps the child’s knowledge is asked. |
| By the Numbers | A math problem is asked which the child solves mentally and responds to orally. |
| Likeables | An orally presented pair of words is given for which the child explains the similarity of the pair. |
| I Know What to Do | An orally presented question that requires the child to solve an everyday problem. |
The DWEEEB in a nutshell
The child puts together the single silly puzzle that makes a lightbulb (Silly Put Together). The child is then asked to tell what it is (Name This). Next the child indicates what is missing (What’s Missing), and then asked who invented it (Jeopardy Question). Next a math problem involving the lightbulb is asked (By the Numbers). Next, how are a lightbulb and a lamp alike (Likeables). Finally, why do you shut the lightbulb off? (I Know What to Do). Seven subtests, 1 item.
Applications of the DWEEEB
As a measure of global intellectual ability, the DWEEEB is useless and inappropriate for a number of purposes. These include psychoeducational assessment as part of educational planning and placement, diagnosis of exceptionality among school-aged children, clinical and neuropsychological assessment, and research. Having said that, use it anyway. Remember Rule #8. (Special rules for evaluation will be discussed in detail later. Keep reading.)
- Diagnosing Mental RetardationUse something else!
- Diagnosing Severely IntelligentUse something else!
- Diagnosing Neuropsychological ImpairmentsUse something else!
User Qualifications
Because of the ease of test administration, diagnosis, and assessment, examiners who use the DWEEEB need not have any formal training and experience in the administration and interpretation of standardized, clinical instruments. Formal training may in fact hinder proper use of this tool. It is not the responsibility of the test user to ensure that the test materials, including the protocols, remain secure.
In most cases, examiners who use the DWEEEB will have completed at least the tenth grade in a public school. Although a trained monkey can administer the subtests and probably score the test as well as a qualified examiner, the results should always be interpreted only by the expert (that’s you!) unless you can get this monkey to do it for you.