Group Research Projects

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)

[Philip Osborne]

In one of Doug's recent posts, he basically stated that the topic that was being discussed would be a good research project for the members.  It was basically in reference to sensory perception during investigations, daytime vs. night time.  I was thinking, that having membership wide ParaNexus research projects would be a huge boost for ParaNexus, and think of the knowledge and enrichment that we could all gain in pulling all of our work together, and plus setting some research goals for the year. This could also advance our field of study.

I am also a member of the Astronomical League,  and The American Association of Amateur Astronomers, and they both have research goals and research projects every year.  Like last year they had the "Dark Sky Initiative" where the goals were to increase public knowledge of light pollution.   There was also the "Sun Spotter's"  Were members would do daily solar observations (sun spots - numbers, size, and types) and send all of our data to The Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers (ALPO), and all of everyone's data is pulled together for a yearly report on solar activity. It was actually a really neat project to work on, especially when you see your data published in a report. It made me feel that I was accomplishing something.

Projects on topics like  " Sensory Perceptions : Day Time Investigations VS. Night Time Investigations." "Magnetic Fields, and there relevance to Paranormal Activity." Something along the lines of documenting during our investigations, the number of times an EMF registers something, in correlation to a compass and/or backed up with EVP's, and temperature differences.
 "A study of Cold Spots in relation to paranormal activity." It could be be on any topic that the board and membership would like to investigate.  All data could be submitted in ParaNexus format(paperwork), for consistency.  Quarterly or more often, data can be compiled for a sub-report to keep everyone informed on current data, and progress.  Something like this could really benefit ParaNexus, our groups, and really benefit our field of study. After looking around on the web, I did not see any groups doing any research projects like this, or even anything on a medium scale. An organization like Paranexus just doing little projects like this could make a HUGE footprint in our field.

I would like to know what others think about this.

Phil

[Ingrid Irwin]

Hey Philip,

I couldn't agree more with you Philip !!  

I like the idea of the the association you mention setting research goals and research projects every year. This is a great way to gather observable data from a large pool of people worldwide and then correlate it into a quarterly and yearly report.
This would add a terrific amount of information to the field and help the research greatly as I don't think any other association in this field is doing anything like this?

I can definitely think of some I would like to do at ParaNexus with willing members in audio "Listening Trials" as this requires a large group to listen to audio and give interpretations over an extended period of time. This again, takes information out of opinion and into a scientific method of reporting.  

This is really constructive ideas Philip, your right, it could make a HUGE footprint in our field. I would also like to hear what others think about this too !!

[Brian Parsons]

This reminds me of a word that's tossed around our field, but rarely used: science.

This is an absolutely great idea. Granted, we will have to design the study and ensure everyone follows all of the basic controls and methods for executing the experiments as well as collecting the data. This information could help steer this entire field (especially out of the circle it has been in for 30 years).

If we do this right we might go beyond the Journal of Anomalous Science and be able to get the data published in other scientific or Parapsychological journals. I see a lot of potential as long as it's done methodically.