What is PARANORMAL RESEARCH exactly?

Question

Is it a REAL study in something with degrees and dipolmas or a novelty hobby?

There are a lot of people who dedicate their lives to this stuff. And really find it hard to believe that their ALL crazy or wrong. Isn't that kind of arrogant and ignornant.

What is paranormal research? is it recognized as a real thing?

Answer 1

It greatly depends on how you define Paranormal. Some people define it as phenomena without testable theories (to explain the total of the experience) while others define it as phenomena with no mechanistic explanation. Please note by both these definitions both super string theory and remote viewing (both have supporting evidence) are considered paranormal.

What most people mean when they say paranormal is any attempt to study something that doesn't slightly add to existing scientific knowledge that can be explained with the current framework of accepted scientific theory. This of course made the phonograph, long lasting electric lights, nuclear power, relativity by Einstein, and all of Planks work in quantum mechanics, Darwin's theory of evolution, and Galileo and Copernicus paranormal investigators.

While Paranormal is an umbrella term and can include ghosts, UFOs, Aliens, Monsters, etc, (what most people think of when hearing the word paranormal because of their failure to apply the definition to investigations they simply believe in more like quantum physics) it is not a narrow enough definition for science.

By contrast parapsychology which has it's own professional organization ( a doctorate is required for full membership) that was voted as an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969 has more clearly defined what they do and do not study.

I would very much like to one day see parapsychologist as well as other scientist come down from their ivory towers and teach amateur groups (like ghost hunters) how to conduct basic experiments, how to use controls, how to evaluate research, and other ways to bring science to the field. It would even be nice if they could leave their bias at home (skeptic or believer) and simply teach people the procedures,

Amateur astronomers (a more narrowly defined field) have for years contributed (and had fun) to the field of astronomy because the information is more readily available.

Psi

Answer 2

No,they're all not crazy.Many are very smart.They know there's a big market for paranormal foofwraw.Others are actually interested in research.How they don't get discouraged after years of negative results.I'll never know.I can think of a reason for some paranormal research.For example if you want to study animals.Without the worry of housing,feeding,or cleaning up their smelly messes.Cryptozoology is the perfect field.

Answer 3

Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe unusual phenomena or experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation.[1] In parapsychology, it is used to describe the ostensibly psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, ghosts, and hauntings. The term is also applied to UFOs, some creatures that fall under the scope of cryptozoology, purported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, and other non-psychical subjects.[2] Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are widespread in popular culture and folklore, but the United States National Science Foundation has stated that mainstream science does not support paranormal beliefs.[3]

Contents

[show]

    * 1 Paranormal research

          o 1.1 Anecdotal approach

          o 1.2 Experimental approach

          o 1.3 Participant-observer approach

          o 1.4 Debunking approach

          o 1.5 Survey approach

    * 2 Belief polls

    * 3 Paranormal subjects

          o 3.1 Ghosts

          o 3.2 UFOs

    * 4 Paranormal challenges

    * 5 Etymology

    * 6 See also

    * 7 References

[edit] Paranormal research

Approaching paranormal phenomena from a research perspective is often difficult because even when the phenomena are seen as real they may be difficult to explain using existing rules or theory. By definition, paranormal phenomena exist outside of conventional norms. Skeptics contend that they don't exist at all. Despite this challenge, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some researchers study just the beliefs in paranormal phenomena regardless of whether the phenomena actually exist.

This section deals with various approaches to the paranormal including those scientific, pseudoscientific, and unscientific. Skeptics feel that supposed scientific approaches are actually pseudoscientific for several reasons which are explored below.[4]

[edit] Anecdotal approach

Charles Fort, 1920. Fort is perhaps the most widely known collector of paranormal stories.

Charles Fort, 1920. Fort is perhaps the most widely known collector of paranormal stories.

An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of anecdotal evidence consisting of informal accounts. Anecdotal evidence, lacking the rigour of empirical evidence, is not amenable to scientific investigation. The anecdotal approach is not a scientific approach to the paranormal because it leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. It is also subject to such logical fallacies as cognitive bias, inductive reasoning, lack of falsifiability, and other fallacies that may prevent the anecdote from having meaningful information to impart. Nevertheless, it is a common approach to paranormal phenomena.

Charles Fort (1874 – 1932) is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained phenomena, though there were no doubt many more than these. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd events originally reported in magazines and newspapers such as The Times and scientific journals such as Scientific American, Nature and Science. From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive. These are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it was abandoned and absorbed into Lo!.

Reported events that he collected include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with coining); poltergeist events, falls of frogs, fishes, inorganic materials of an amazing range; crop circles; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires; levitation; ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort); unidentified flying objects; mysterious appearances and disappearances; giant wheels of light in the oceans; and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat). He offered many reports of OOPArts, abbreviation for "out of place" artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He also is perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction, and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Fort is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the study of paranormal phenomena.

The magazine Fortean Times continues Charles Forte's approach, regularly reporting anecdotal accounts of anomalous phenomena.

[edit] Experimental approach

Participant of a Ganzfeld Experiment which proponents say may show evidence of telepathy.

Participant of a Ganzfeld Experiment which proponents say may show evidence of telepathy.

    Main article: Parapsychology

Experimental investigation of the paranormal is largely conducted in the multidisciplinary field of parapsychology. Although parapsychology has its roots in earlier research, it began using the experimental approach in the 1930s under the direction of J. B. Rhine (1895 – 1980).[5] Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory in the hopes of finding a statistical validation of extra-sensory perception.[5]

In 1957, the Parapsychological Association was formed as the preeminent society for parapsychologists. In 1969, they became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That affiliation, along with a general openness to psychic and occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research.[5] During this time, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute for Noetic Sciences (1973), and the International Kirlian Research Association (1975). Each of these groups performed experiments on paranormal subjects to varying degrees. Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research Institute during this time.[5]

With the increase in parapsychological investigation, there came an increase in opposition to both the findings of parapsychologists and the granting of any formal recognition of the field. Criticisms of the field were focused in the founding of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (1976), now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and its periodical, Skeptical Inquirer.[5]

As astronomer Carl Sagan put it, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"[6], and experimental research into the paranormal continues today, though it has waned considerably since the 1970s.[7] One such experiment is called the Ganzfeld Experiment. The purpose of the Ganzfeld Experiment, like other parapsychological experiments, is to test for statistical anomalies that might suggest the existence of psi, a process indicating psychic phenomena.[8] In the Ganzfeld Experiment, a subject (receiver) is asked to access through psychic means some target. The target is typically a picture or video clip selected randomly from a large pool, which is then viewed in a remote location by another subject (sender). Ganzfeld experiments use audio and visual sensory deprivation to remove any kind of external stimulus that may interfere with the testing or corrupt the test by providing cues to correct targets. A 'hit' refers to a correctly identified target. The expected hit ratio of such a trial is 1 in 4, or 25%.[8] Deviations from this expected ratio might be seen as evidence for psi, although such conclusions are often disputed.[9] To date there have been no experimental results that have gained wide acceptance in the scientific community as valid evidence of paranormal phenomena. [7]

[edit] Participant-observer approach

Ghost hunters taking an EMF reading which proponents say may show evidence of ghosts.

Ghost hunters taking an EMF reading which proponents say may show evidence of ghosts.

While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of the paranormal in laboratories, a great number of people immerse themselves in qualitative research through participant-observer approaches to the paranormal. Participant-observer methodologies have overlaps with other essentially qualitative approaches as well, including phenomenological research that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced, rather than to explain them.[10]

Participant-observation suggests that by immersing oneself in the subject being studied, a researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. In paranormal research, a participant-observer study might consist of a researcher visiting a place where alleged paranormal activity is said to occur and recording observations while there. Participation levels may vary. In studying a supposedly haunted location, for example, the researcher may conduct a séance or participate in other activities said to cause paranormal activity.

Criticisms of participant-observation as a data-gathering technique are similar to criticisms of other approaches to the paranormal, but also include an increased threat to the objectivity of the researcher, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (observation may distort the observed behavior).[11] Specific data gathering methods, such as recording EMF readings at haunted locations have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observation approach itself.

The participant-observer approach to the paranormal has gained increased visibility and popularity through reality-based television shows like Ghost Hunters, and the formation of independent ghost hunting groups which advocate immersive research at alleged paranormal locations. One pop

Answer 4

It's  pretty much a hobby right now but the pioneers in this field want it to be recognized as a real science. Thats why more and more groups want tangible proof of a paranormal experience, such as video or pics.