Question: SERF: What do you
consider a "peer" reviewer?
Answer: Much of the design of an experimental
protocol is involved with assuring the experimenter
does not influence the results. An effective
methodology for assuring that what is reported
fairly represents the data, is to have other people
examine the results. For instance, for the results
of the
online EVP listening trials includes a number of
assumptions that, since I am not a linguist, may not
be realistic. We are seeking the review of people
more qualified in linguistics, and the report will
not be changed from "Draft" to "Published" until
that review has occurred.
In many science journals, articles are subjected to
review by other researchers before they are
published. Often, this can take many rounds of
question answer and suggestion until the reviewers
are satisfied that the article fairly represents the
data. The result is intended to be a well-written
report with conclusions that are supported by data
collected following a sound protocol.
As a rule, mainstream science and even
parapsychology do not have scientists qualify as
peers in etheric studies. Certainly, there are
scientists more than qualified to consider protocol
design and data analysis in terms of mechanical
reasonableness. Questions such as whether or not the
monitor is sufficiently isolated from the sitters
and if there are safeguards to assure the data is
considered without bias are universal. However,
whether or not a protocol can realistically collect
examples of phenomena and if resulting data reflects
what can actually be collected using a given
procedure are best examined by people who have
direct experience in the field. This was clearly
illustrated by the Journal of Scientific
Exploration in the article,
Failure to Replicate EVP by Imants Barušs
Research supported by the SERF will be required to
be reviewed by one or more people who have relevant
clinical experience and one or more people who have
practical experience in the field.
Question: SERF: Do I
own the
product of my research?
Answer: The AA-EVP is a publically funded
nonprofit, educational organization. Our charter is
to further the understanding of things etheric and
to help people learn about and work with these
phenomena. The Sarah Estep Research Fund is an
extension of that charter, and as such, is intended
to promote a culture of careful application of
scientific practices and collaboration amongst
researchers. The AA-EVP is not chartered to
accumulate control of knowledge, and we wishes to
see the research sponsored by the Association
promote that view amongst other organizations.
This is not to say that researchers receiving
SERF grants are not allowed to profit from their
work. So long as the requirements of the AA-EVP
are satisfied, a receiver of a grant is
encouraged to make possible technology resulting
from their work available as a "for profit"
product. Likewise, other developers must have
access to the information for possible product
development. The researcher who creates the
knowledge, hardware or software technology or
technique retains ownership as first source and
should be duly credited.
Question: Can my
hauntings investigation group apply for a
grant? Answer: We
understand how difficult it is to acquire and
maintain the proper tools for investigations.
This is a new field of research and in most
instances, investigators are more like early
naturalists observing and documenting the nature
of our environment. Hauntings investigation is a
small party of the overall study. Hauntings
events are possible physical manifestations of
what we sometimes refer to as
etheric-to-physical influences. The real
questions concern the cause of these influences,
who or what is causing them, what
physical/etheric process are involved and the
implications of these influences. To distinguish
this work from parapsychology, which is more
concerned with psi functioning and human
potential, we refer to the research of these
questions as Etheric Studies and our working
model is the Survival Hypothesis. The Sarah
Estep Research Fund (SERF) is intended to
support Etheric Studies.
There is little funding available for research
in nontraditional sciences, and much that there
is goes to parapsychology. As a group,
parapsychologists do not accept the concept of
survival of personality after physical "death."
What little funding that is in the SERF has been
contributed by AA-EVP members. The study and
research programs you see listed on the website
were either funded by the AA-EVP prior to the
fund or have been funded by the
SERF.
At this time, the fund is nearly fully committed
and until we have more financial support, we are
restricted to identifying potential research
projects and bringing them to a level of
documentation that allows full disclosure of
objectives. Specific requirements can be read on
the
SERF pages.
The typical relationship between
funding agency and researcher is for the agency
to agree that the proposed research is within
their scope of interest, the award of research
funds and acknowledgement of the final report.
In most cases, there are no further requirements
placed on the researcher. A project might take a
year or more, many projects are done in secret
making collaboration amongst researchers
impossible and the final results are too often
seen by a relative few with archived material
being accessible by even fewer. By most
measures, the intended results held by the
granting agency is not achieved.
This field is evolving at a breathtaking rate,
and under current circumstances, research is not
able to keep pace. In an effort to promote
collaboration amongst researchers, and to assure
that research reports remain available for
public access, the AA-EVP will us a different
model. In general:
-
Invited or unsolicited
proposal submitted by the researcher
-
Submission of research
proposal including:
-
A clearly stated
objective
-
List of deliverables
-
Timeline for delivery
-
Agreement to comply with
open source requirements maintained by
Creative Commons. Under this
agreement, the researcher retains
ownership of the work product, but the
public is free to use the material so
long as proper credit is given.
-
Agreement that the
AA-EVP will be able to publish research
results in a public venue.
-
Agreement to collaborate
with other researchers during the course
of the research.
-
Agreement to publish in
a peer reviewed journal. If none are
available, the report will be published
by the AA-EVP, which will manage
the peer review process.
-
List of participating
researchers and their qualifications as they
apply to the project.
-
A list of previous projects.
The AA-EVP will function as both
the granting agency and as a research
coordinator to assure minimize replication of
effort and assist with public relations. In no
way will the AA-EVP make a claim of ownership of
any of the resulting work, other than to assure
that it is available to the public.
It is not necessary to have a
research degree to apply, but it will be
necessary to be able to demonstrate an
understanding of and ability to apply academic
standards. With that said, a proposal with
specific deliverables as described in the
procedures would be required. SERF funds are
very limited right now and well-considered
research proposals are needed to help attract
further funding.
Please feel free to ask
questions. It is very important to us that our
field--Etheric Studies--matures into a community
of collaborating, cooperating people and
organizations.
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