| Sumario: | This article presents an overview of the Presbyterian Panel. The Panel consists of approximately 3,900 United Presbyterians who have agreed to respond to an ongoing mail survey during a three-year period beginning in January 1982. The reliability of these procedures is modified to some extent by other factors such as the accuracy of church membership lists and the cooperation of persons involved in the sampling process. The Research Unit of the Support Agency maintains the Panel as a service to the U.S. General Assembly, its agencies, councils, judicatories and special committees. Its purpose is to aid these groups, when requested, in planning and/or evaluating their work by providing information on the activities attitudes and opinions of United Presbyterians. To this end participants in the Panel have agreed to respond to six surveys a year. These differences are rather startling if one began with the expectation that exposure to the criminal justice system through professional service or congregational ministry would tend to make a person more aware and more critical of existing efforts.
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