I was watching a re-run of the movie The Great Escape yesterday and discovered another brilliant set of quotes about measurement (or should I say test design).
I wonder what would happen if you put all the bad, mis-fitting items together into one test. What would be the result? What would happen to the test scores?
Here is the clip from the movie and the dialogue script follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzE7Zukwv3g
I am Colonel Von Luger. Please sit down.
Group Captain Ramsey, in the past four years the Reich has been forced to spend an enormous amount of time, energy, manpower and equipment hunting down escaping prisoner-of-war officers.
At least it's rather nice to know you're wanted, isn't it?
For us it's not a matter for levity.
There will be no escapes from this camp.
Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape.
If they can't, it is their duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability.
Yes, I know.
The men under your authority have been most successful.
This man, Ashley-Pitt, for example.
Caught in the North Sea, escaped, recaptured, escaped, recaptured.
Archibald "Archie" Ives: Eleven escape attempts.
Even tried to jump out of the truck coming here.
Dickes, William.
Known to have participated in digging of eleven escape tunnels.
Flight Lieutenant Willinski: four escapes.
MacDonald: nine.
Hendley, the American: five.
Haynes: four. Sedgwick: seven.
The list is almost endless.
One man here has made seventeen attempted escapes.
Group Captain, this is close to insanity.
- Quite.
- And it must stop!
Colonel, do you expect officers to forget their duty?
No.
It is because we expect the opposite that we have brought you here.
This is a new camp.
It has been built to hold you and your men.
It is organised to incorporate all we have learned of security measures.
And in me, you will not be dealing with a common jailer, but with a staff officer personally selected for the task by the Luftwaffe high command.
We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket, and we intend to watch this basket carefully.
Very wise.
The quote is then repeated in the movie here:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/1168457/Great-Escape-The-Movie-Clip-All-The-Rotten-Eggs.html
with the dialogue script below:
- I saw Willie and Willinski with Mac.
- A lot of old friends here.
- How long have you been here, sir?
- Arrived today.
New camp, expert guards, the elite.
You met the commandant?
Yes, I did.
What were the Gestapo and the SS doing with you?
They wanted to find out who helped me to the border.
Who else is here? Cavendish?
- Nimmo and Sorren?
- Griffith, Haynes.
- Blythe?
- Yes.
Almost the whole X organisation.
Almost. They cleaned out all the other camps and dumped us in this one.
As Von Luger put it:
"All the rotten eggs in one basket."
There's madness in their method.
What about Tommy Bristol?
No, but there's an American - Hendley.
Is he a scrounger, blackmailer?
- MacDonald says he's the best.
- Good.
SCRIPT SOURCE: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/g/great-escape-script-transcript-mcqueen.html
Many thanks!
P.S. Notice too that the behaviour you want to measure is defined by the persons or people you describe. Another great piece of measurement of advice when developing a test (especially a clinical test).