The scientific method exists for a reason. It’s the most reliable way to describe a phenomenon without the influence of the researcher’s beliefs, culture and personal opinion. Therefore, investigations that do not have a method that guarantees that the experiment results aren’t corrupted by the researchers’ wish to validate their theories, won’t be taken seriously by the scientific communities.
Parapsychologists have been trying to find evidence of life after death, telepathy, precognition, etc; but the scientific communities haven’t accepted the evidences, claiming that there are many methodological mistakes that lead to distorted interpretations of results. It seems that serious researchers end up being eclipsed by those who are not familiar with scientific method, or even worse, that come up with fraudulent evidence in order to make money or justify their beliefs.
Paranormal Research – Common Mistakes
There are many mistakes that paranormal investigators can make when applying the scientific method, for instance:
- Dubious interpretation of results – Sometimes the results aren’t quite clear and leave room to many interpretations, so the researcher chooses the interpretation that fits his initial hypothesis and rejects all the others;
- Faith-based investigation – Many paranormal investigators will construct a hypothesis based on their beliefs rather than on an observable phenomena and when the results of the experiments don’t justify their faith, they assume that something went wrong in the experiment rather than accepting that their beliefs may not correspond to the evidence;
- Erroneous meaning attribution – In some cases, the results of an experiment lack clarity and the investigator attributes a meaning to the results when, in reality, no meaning exists. This is a very common mistake among EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) and ITC (Instrumental Transcommunication) researchers;
- Ignoring statistics – Statistics are a very important tool for an individual who is trying to understand the outcome of an experiment. Sometimes investigators don’t bother comparing statistical data and they inadvertently construct a theory that can be easily refuted by statistical evidence;
- Choosing a phenomenon that can't be observed – Some paranormal phenomena simply cannot be observed. This kind of phenomenon can’t be proven by a scientific method and will most likely belong to the field of speculation for a long time. Trying to prove phenomena that can’t be observed leads to failure, as experiments must be observable and repeatable.
How to Investigate Parapsychological Phenomena
Certainly, not all of the parapsychological phenomena can be proven by scientific method, as said before, but it does not mean that some other phenomena can’t actually be tested and validated as long as the guidelines for proper scientific investigations are strictly followed.
Many theories that were mere speculation years ago, are scientifically-proven today because new technology has allowed for experimentation. In order to achieve a successful experiment, the researcher must always ask several questions.
- Can the results of the experiment be repeated by other researchers? When other researchers repeat the same experiment and obtain different results, this is a good indication the first investigator might be making one or more of the mistakes listed above and it's time to modify the experiment or ignore its results;
- Does the methodology exclude other possible explanations for a given hypothesis? If that telepathy experiment went well, but there was no way to determine if the participants communicated by cell phone during the experiment, then the results will never be conclusive.
If one can find a method that makes it possible to investigate paranormal phenomena under the inherent limitations of science, every objection from the scientific world will be only a demonstration of the dogmatism that has taken over the academy which, paradoxically, fights off dogmatisms of religion and spirituality.
So, it’s important to point out that the fact that a hypothesis can't be validated by science doesn’t necessarily mean that it can't be true, but it definitely means that, without ways to prove it right or wrong, it’s a matter of belief until a new technology or new knowledge comes to light.
Read More:
How to Detect Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Phenomena Research: How to Use Background Noise in EVP investigations
References:
- Schafersman, Steven. An Introduction to Science: Scientific Thinking and Scientific Method, 1994.
- De Rose, Keith. What is Epistemology - A Brief Introduction to the Topic. Yale University.
- Steup, Matthias. The Analysys of Knowledge, Stanford Encyclopedia or Philosophy, 2006.
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logicos - Philososphicus, 1922.
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