Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, the Feature Article by Sheila List And

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, The feature article by Sheila List and Michael McDaniel, concerning the practice of when to state empirical hypothesis before analyses or not, was disturbing. At the recent SOB conference at the University of Nebraska the consensus was that the observed lack of proper training was evident in our best journals. The interpretation of the HARKing practice as a QRP is false. My deeper question is how can we reverse this decline in quality of I-O and OB research? Several editors of leading journals expressed concern about the poor training of their reviewers and that so may well-trained people do not make time to review papers. We had no quick fix. Returning to this strange new word called HARKing, I agreed that submitting false information and selective report- ing with intention to misinform are not questionable, but unethical and may be illegal. When dis- covered, these practices need to be punished by the research community. When I was a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota. Twin Cities, I was taught by Paul Meehl, Marv Dunnette, Rene Dawis and others that hypothesis testing is for amateurs. Today, this has been driven home with the development of meta-analysis and deductive–inductive examination of big data (Gottfredson & Aguinis, 2016). These methods pay no attention to hy- potheses. They only require your correlations and sample size, and do not analyze until they have accumulated big data. Before meta-analysis, big data were reviewed for quality and analyzed using a form of the deductive–inductive examination. Today, more complex methods are used but at the expense of a quality. A related concern is the practice of stating recommendations based on a small study. Results of a single study, no matter how trustworthy and exciting, until it is confirmed by meta- analyses of big data are only speculations and tell us little or nothing depending on quality of methods used. When I review research papers for publications, I have three questions that are deal killers. They are: (1) Do the authors demonstrate adequate training? (2) Have they collect quality and meaningful data? (3) Do their results and conclusions reflect the strength of their correlations? To summarize, we have a problem in reviewing the trend of declining trustworthiness in I-O and OB research. Please help us. Cheers, George Graen jag Gottfredson, R. K., & Aguinis, H. (2016). Leadership behaviors and follower performance: Deductive and inductive examination of theoretical rationales and underlying mechanisms. Journal of Organizational Behavior. doi: 10.11002/job.2152. Dr. Tara Behrend Editor, TIP Dear Tara, One of the great benefits of being part of the SIOP community is the investment in learning and professional development. Eleven years ago, that learning portfolio was expanded to include the Leading Edge Consortium, a new conference format with a different topic each year. Over time, these events have grown in sophistication and impact, with this past October’s event being the most successful LEC ever. A great deal of that success is driven by Dave Nershi. As the chair of the most recent LEC (2016) and the co-chair of the first LEC (2005), we have first- hand experience working closely with Dave and the Administrative Office team, particularly Linda Lentz, Tracy Vanneman, Jen Baker, Barbara Ruland, Stephanie Below, and Larry Nader. From the very first LEC to the most recent event, Dave and the Administrative Office staff have worked tirelessly to produce very professional and first rate conferences. They have expertly managed all the logistics, marketing, and details, and have been real joy to work with, creating enriching environments that support professional connections and learning. Given Dave’s pending retirement from SIOP in 2017, we wanted to ensure that he gets the SIOP recognition that he deserves for his professional and expert management skills as the SIOP executive director. His expertise, skills and commitment will be missed. We are certain that our view is widely shared among SIOP members. Thank you, Dave, for helping SIOP to become a professional and well managed organization. All the best for the next chapters in your life. Regards, Alexis Fink, Chair, 2017 LEC on Big Data Rob Silzer, Co-Chair, 2005 LEC on Executives President’s Column Mort McPhail I’m not sure how time can move so quickly from the heat of summer to the heat of an election (on that topic see the thought experiment in the October TIP by Jessica Deselms, Lauren Bahls, Kristie Campana, and Daniel Sachau) to the halcyon clear, crisp days on autumn. Right now we’re having what we referred to in my consulting days as “recruiting weather”—just don’t tell them about August in Houston. Part of the reason time has flown is that SIOP has been busy this fall, beginning with our Sep- tember Executive Board meeting. We took several actions that I think fit well with my theme of focusing on the future of I-O psychology. For example, the board approved a proposal submit- ted by Deborah Rupp to establish a SIOP Corporate Social Responsibility registry to comple- ment and enhance I-O’s visibility and impact in this arena. The board also approved a funding proposal for SIOP’s participation in two future oriented events. The first was brought by Instructional and Educational Officer Milt Hakel to become a sponsor for APA’s first ever Summit on High School Psychology Education to be held next summer in Ogden, UT. Between the first Advanced Placement examination in psychology in 1992 and 2015, the number of students taking the examination has grown from about 3,900 to over 276,000, making the psychology AP examination one of the largest given. These numbers reflect the growing interest in psychology as a course of study, and the summit represents a long- term opportunity for SIOP to invest in its own future by introducing I-O to educators and even- tually to students. Having first encountered I-O as a high school student, I can attest to the power of being there early to plant seeds. Membership Officer Mo Wang offered a proposal on behalf of both CEMA and the LGBT Com- mittee to sponsor and fund attendance at the National Multicultural Conference and Summit (NMCS) to be held in Portland, OR, in January. The conference is held biannually among several APA divisions and serves to promote interactions and conversations to exchange research, information, and best practices among educators, practitioners, researchers, and students on a wide array of topics relating to multiculturalism. Former LGBT Committee chair Larry Martinez has agreed to attend on SIOP’s behalf. As diversity continues to increase in the workplace and across global organizational structures, I-O of the future must and will be prepared to provide the knowledge and practical applications to tap into the power of multiculturalism to the bene- fit of organizations and the people in them. The summit provides us an opportunity to link with our colleagues in other disciplines of psychology on these matters of crucial mutual interest. In addition to preparing the NMCS proposal, CEMA and LGBT Committee chairs Kisha Jones and Katina Sawyer collaborated on a proposal to the board to develop means at our conference in Orlando in April to “visibly support/honor” victims of the hate crime committed at the Orlando night club last June. The board agreed that such recognition was appropriate and encouraged the committees to coordinate with the Conference Committee to fulfill this initiative. Professional Practice Officer Rob Silzer presented a proposal to initiate a new Practice Update quarterly newsletter. This initiative responds to ideas raised in the last practitioner survey and will provide links to items of particular interest for practitioners, including tying into current research with application implications. It is my hope that this newsletter will foster communica- tions among practitioners and with researchers. Professional Practice Committee chair Will Shepherd and Ben Porr from the committee are working on the content and format with Rob. Look for the first issue by email soon. In a follow-up meeting, the EB also approved SIOP’s statement for the UN on living wages, which has since been accepted by the UN Economic and Social Council. The UN is in the process of translating it into its six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish). Thanks go to SIOP member Stuart Carr who coauthored the statement with Darrin Hodgetts and to the SIOP UN Committee (http://www.siop.org/Prosocial/UN.aspx) and its chair Lori Foster. The statement will be part of the 55th session of the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD55, https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/united-nations-commission-for-social- development-csocd-social-policy-and-development-division/csocd55.html). This session will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from February 1-10, 2017. The priority theme for the session is “Strategies for the eradication of poverty to achieve sustainable development for all.” It is through efforts like this that I-O psychology approaches the future with a growing ability to have global impact and to leverage evidence-based research to improve the lives of working people around the world. As you might guess, given the unexpected election results, our advocacy work has taken on some complications. Jill Bradley-Geist and the GREAT team are working with our advocacy consultants at Lewis-Burke to develop transition documents to introduce SIOP and I-O psychology to the new ad- ministration and new members of Congress. That process slows to a crawl in Washington in the wake of any election, but we are preparing for new rounds of introductions and reinvigorating our efforts after the recently elected folks take office in the new year.

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