The Midwest Psychological Field Station was established in Oskaloosa, Kansas in 1947 by University of Kansas psychology professors Roger Barker and Herbert F. Wright. At the Station, psychologists observed the relationship of environment to behavior of citizens of the town, referred to as "Midwest" in published studies and as the "Child Study Project" by the local community, a research model that helped to establish "ecological" psychology (also known as "environmental" psychology) as a subdiscipline.

Other researchers and staff involved in the field station over the years included John G. Adair, Louise Shedd Barker, Charles T. Deeble, Bettina Adelberg Dubin, Clifford Leroy Fawl, Karl A. Fox, Paul V. Gump, Nehemia Jordan, Dan D. M. Ragle, Suzanne THomas Saldarini, Maxine and Phil Schoggen, Anne Silcock, Ipek R. Soykan, Shalom W. Vineberg, ALlan W. Wicker, Edwyn P. Willems, and Lorene Wright.

Initially focused on research involving individuals in the community, later projects focused on communities, schools (including the consolidation of schools in Kansas in the late 1960s/early 1960s), and organizations. One of the Station's studies involved comparative analysis work with a parallel town in central Yorkshire, England.

Barker resigned from his last grant in 1971, retiring from the University of Kansas. The Field Station, unable to secure additional funding for long-term research projects, closed soon after that.