Paranormal Thesis Finally Catalogued!

My thesis has hit the shelves of the Monash Library. It's the final milestone in the long, drawn-out, formal process that sees an idea become a reality. That's the good news. The bad news is that the whole thesis is only available for viewing on campus. Will there ever be a day (perhaps Google will have to step in?) when all theses are available online? I hope so but it won't happen in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, I'll reprint the abstract in this and the next post. If you can't wait just click on the link above.

Anecdotal reports of paranormal experiences abound. In addition to the numerous books, films and media articles, there is a growing body of personal narratives which is readily accessed through online websites, blogs and chatrooms. By comparison, there is a paucity of documented research on spontaneous parapsychological phenomena in the academic literature. The current exploratory study sought to redress this imbalance by addressing the research problem: what types of paranormal phenomena do people spontaneously encounter, and are there unifying themes in the reports of these experiences?

This research followed the Mixed Methods Research model. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via an online survey instrument, which was written in English. Over three thousand (N=3194) self-selecting respondents completed the questionnaire and in total, 59 countries were represented. The majority of the paranormal experients were from the United States of America (N= 1979), Australia (N=485), United Kingdom (N=252), and Canada (N=228). More women (62%) than men participated in the survey, and while the dominant age group was the 18-35 year olds (45%), this was closely followed by the 36-55 year olds (43%).

To be continued.......

The survey is again live. Put your experiences on record now http://bit.ly/omr7y

Action in Cyberspace

When I launched my Paranormal Survey onto the net I had no idea what the response would be - or how large - for as far as I could see this was the first time such an endeavour had been undertaken on such a scale. So, undaunted, I launched to questionnaire in September and left it open till the end of the year. From time to time Id check to see how the numbers were going. Of course it started off slowly but, once it gained momentum, the word spread, and the marketing campaign kicked in, the response to the survey was overwhelming and heartwarming at the same time.

My survey was handled by a third party - a company called SurveyMonkey. I used their infrastructure to format the survey, set the parameters and design the overall look and feel of the onscreen questionnaire. I tested and modified it before going live by using friends as the guinea pigs. They were patient and effusive with their comments and as it turned out, so were more than a few of the survey respondents. I couldnt count the number of times that survey participants left me a note thanking me for the opportunity to tell their story. Many expressed a sense of relief to be given the chance to document their anecdotes; others spoke of this being the first time they felt able to bear their souls and talk from the heart about incidences that had obviously impacted them greatly.

In stark contrast to the deeply personal narratives sits the quantitative data. It seems somehow wrong to reduce the participants to numbers - but that is the nature of research that deals in numbers. On the one hand quantitative data gives the reader (and the researcher) a handle to hold onto - facts to easily quote, an elegant way of managing a mass of data. But, it also veils the personal, the intimate, the heartbreaking stories behind the numbers.

I'm very pleased I chose to use a new research model - Mixed Methods Research. There is a lot of heated argument (or to be more polite, discussion) within academia about the merits of this method but, having used it so successfully, I'm in no doubt that it has its place in research. The book which became my permanent point of reference and one I'd recommend is entitled "Mixed Methods Research" by John Creswell and Vicki Plano Clark. This is widely regarded as the bible of this particular research model and for those contemplating formal research - be it in psychic studies of otherwise, it is well worth investigating.

Mixed Methods Research requires the gathering of both statistical and qualitative data - and therein lies its elegance. Statistics hide the true face of the topic under review - the human element - and in the current instance, it was the personal impact of parapsychological experiences that I was looking to document. Using the Mixed Methods Research model I achieved this and a whole lot more........

Paranormal Books and Websites

Themes emerged from the self reports that I collected for my paranormal thesis.

Given my sense of knowing from my earliest moment, I was keen to see if those who had experienced the paranormal would report experiences that dated back to their early childhood. I wasn't disappointed. People confided intimate details about experiences that happened very, very early in their lives - before the second year of life. So, Im not alone in my early knowing!

I was curious to know whether more males or females report paranormal experiences - and statistically my research confirmed that there is a gender bias. In the past, it was shown that men tended to answer online surveys more frequently than women, but more recently this balance has swung the other way and my study confirmed this too. More women than men responded to the call to participate in my anonymous survey and the difference in the level of paranormal experience reports was statistically significant in favour of women.

All good stuff really and every bit of formal research helps, especially in an area like academic paranormal research where so little work is being done. Partly, there is a shortage because it's a matter of funding; partly it's a matter of career suicide for members of the paid academic fraternity (of which Im not a member, so I have nothing to lose).

During the course of my study I read a lot of books and articles and journals. Some of these are readily available online; many are only available through university libraries and the international network that binds them. Of course, over the years while waiting for the world to turn far enough for the paranormal to come out of the shadows, I read a lot of paranormal books, searching for confirmation that I wasn't alone in all this.

I'd like to share some of my references - from both of these sources. Some you may be familiar with, others are more obscure. I'll also start to place links to websites and blogs that I recommend.

One of the first serious books I read was Parapsychology by Richard Broughton. I'll review it next blog. In the meantime, here's a link for you to have a look at.