To develop a method of categorizing public relations practitioners according to a hierarchy of professionalism which would also identify what training is needed to raise those in lower levels to higher levels, a study surveyed 93 Iowa practitioners listed in the 1986-87 Public Relations Society of America Register Issue. Response rate was 66% and usable rate was 54%. The survey used James Grunig's four models of public relations--press agent/publicity, public information, two-way asymmetric, and two-way symmetric--which combined two dimensions (direction of communication and balance of intended effect) to conceptualize public relations. Based on responses on a five-point Likert scale to 27 public relations model indexes, respondents were separated into the four models. The respondents within each model were then statistically tested to determine how well they correlated with 16 common public relations procedures. Next, the procedures were factor analyzed to determine if patterns existed, other than the four models already proposed, that would better stratify responses in a meaningful hierarchy of sophistication. Analysis indicated little support for the four-model approach to categorizing practitioners according to their activities. Results of the factor analysis showed a strong pattern of specialization among practitioners, indicating little crossover of activities between levels. (Two tables providing characteristics and index statements for the 4 public relations models, 2 tables of data, and 18 footnotes are attached.) (MM)