ABSTRACT
The participants of the 1967 conference on psychoanalytic training were prepared for the meeting by the three precirculated contributions published in this issue. Brian Bird's essay which, starting from a broadly based discussion of certain general problems of psychoanalytic education, focuses on the methodology of evaluation. Paula Heimann's paper which deals not only with the measures we apply — overtly or covertly—when we attempt to form opinions about the suitability of those who wish to enter psychoanalytic training, but which also touches on some profound problems regarding the historical position of psychoanalysis and its future. And Kenneth Calder's compilation of the instructive replies to a questionnaire about evaluation procedures which had been distributed to psychoanalytic training institutions all over the world. The question whether quantifying devices should be used in such areas of applied psychoanalytic research as evaluation and selection is a crucial one.
