Investigated the range and complexity of ideas that people hold on psychological issues by examining the correspondence to The Times (of London) concerning the scandal in which Sir Cyril Burt was accused by the medical correspondent of the Sunday Times of faking his datIt is concluded that while newspaper correspondence will not be able to provide very useful material for empirical research, it does reveal some of the differences between academics in their basic methods and orientations as well as the gulf between academics and laypeople. (14 ref)