Committee on Public Service Standards in Social Psychological Research

This letter argues that unevenness in the quality of the research carried on and unevenness in the training and competence of research workers poses a problem for the rapidly growing field of social psychology. Professional groups of social psychologists can help to solve this problem through the development of standards and criteria for the evaluation of social psychological research. The responsibility for developing such standards and criteria rests naturally upon those scientists engaged in social psychological research and in the training of research workers. Two divisions of the APA, namely, the Division of Personality and Social Psychology and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues are setting up a joint Committee on Public Service Standards in Social Psychological Research. The major functions of the Committee, after a set of standards has been adopted by the membership of the two Divisions, will be twofold: (1) The Committee must appraise the standards regularly and make such recommendations for change as it may deem desirable. (2) The Committee must undertake the continuous publicizing of social psychological research standards and the education of the public as to what constitutes acceptable quality of social psychological work and what fails to meet the minimum scientific standards.