Notes that most of those who criticized the authors' 1975 APA presidential address seem to explicitly or implicitly share the belief that issues discussed are important areas of study on which divergent perspectives should be developed and discussed even where the best available evidence falls far short of dependable scientific fact. (Author/AM)

The main question explored in this article is whether behavior analysts are more interested in examining the variables of which socially important behaviors are a function, or in improving those behaviors. It is concluded that improvement is currently more important to researchers than analysis. (Author/AM)