Flowers J F
Can Med Assoc J. 1967 Apr 1;96(13):942-6.
The complexities of describing human characteristics with sufficient accuracy to enable successful selection of candidates for medical school demand precise and penetrating analysis. An important tool is statistical analysis; however, current methods have not been sufficient. Methods of multivariate analysis which have been extended only recently to problems in the social sciences have great diversity and power. These methods have been outlined and their application in medical education indicated. The appropriateness of a particular method depends upon four factors: the subjects under study, nature of the data, conditions under which data were obtained, and the purpose of the analysis. A critical consideration of these factors should enable the choice of a method capable of providing meaningful conclusions concerning medical school selection to be made.
要足够准确地描述人类特征，以便成功选拔医学院的候选人，其中的复杂性需要精确而深入的分析。一个重要的工具是统计分析；然而，目前的方法还不够。多元分析方法直到最近才扩展到社会科学问题，具有很大的多样性和强大的功能。这些方法已被概述，并指出了它们在医学教育中的应用。特定方法的适用性取决于四个因素：所研究的对象、数据的性质、获取数据的条件以及分析的目的。对这些因素进行批判性考虑，应该能够选择一种能够就医学院选拔得出有意义结论的方法。
