What is the file draw problem in relation to paranormal research?

Question

What is the file draw problem in relation to paranormal research?

Answer 1

You mean the file drawer effect. Good question!  I added a link below to help explain it.  Basically, it means that positive results (those in favor of the paranormal) are reported more often in the literature while the negative results tend to go unreported, thus remaining in the "file drawer". This creates a bias in the literature that does not accurately reflect the state of the research being conducted.

This effect can happen in real science as well as in the paranormal literature. However, in my experience as a researcher and writer of published scientific journal articles, I have read many "we did this and it didn't work" type papers, which have great value to other researchers. In contrast, paranormal researchers are working in a field that is doubted by many, especially scientists, and they have a vested interest to present only the research that supports the existence of the paranormal. The file drawer effect has been recognized as a major problem in the paranormal literature.

This is especially problematic when doing a "meta-analysis", basically a literature search which attempts to compile data from all available studies so that a statistical analysis can be performed on the sum whole (see link below). The meta analysis method is fraught with practical and statistical pitfalls and is not commonly used in established sciences, though there are instances where it has proven useful in the non-physical sciences, e.g., psychology. In contrast, the paranormal is the only area of investigation in which researchers have tried to use meta analysis to establish its existence in the first place!

Answer 2

TR's answer is very thorough, but mistaken in one respect.  The file drawer effect is not nearly as problematic an issue in scientific parapsychology as is often asserted by critics.  There are a number of ways of evaluating what impact the file drawer effect has in a body of research.  Those sorts of evaluations have been conducted for the most credible parapsychology results, and they show that the file drawer effect cannot account for the positive results reported.

Answer 3

The file drawer effect is when a researcher removes data or results that are unfavorable with regards to his purpose.  For example, if a lab is established with money given by a wealthy person who believes in the paranormal, a researcher at that lab may choose to release only that data which fulfills the expectations of the donor.

Answer 4

I guess all it means is that researchers tend to only look at positive results and file away negative results or repeat the same experiments over and over even though there is no value in doing so.

It would have the same value as chasing your tail around in endless circles.

It would seem that normal science is guilty of this. Most people are blind to what goes on in the scientific community anyway.

Science can only prove what happens in closed controlled environments, using prescribed methods, if something comes about where one instance amounts to a variable, the whole community will turn their back on the scientist until he can figure out why he found what he found and explain why his variable isn't really a variable at all.

Paranormal researchers are just trying to find out why the variable is not really a variable but explainable.

Jeez why all the thumbs down?