Sir Cyril Burt: References & Edit History

Leon J. Kamin, The Science and Politics of I.Q. (1974), reviewed Burt’s statistical methods and argued that his data was falsified or fabricated. L.S. Hearnshaw, Cyril Burt, Psychologist (1979), attacked Burt’s methods, drawing on analysis of his statistics and on unpublished materials in his papers. Robert B. Joynson, The Burt Affair (1989); and Ronald Fletcher, Science, Ideology, and the Media: The Cyril Burt Scandal (1991), were written in response to Hearnshaw; both argued that while Burt was guilty of doing some sloppy science, charges of fraud could not be sustained. N.J. Mackintosh (ed.), Cyril Burt: Fraud or Framed? (1995), a collection of essays by psychologists or historians of psychology, reviewed the scientific evidence, Burt’s statistical methods, his data, and the debate and concluded that Burt probably did knowingly fabricate data.