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91-559: The main aim of the KSP is to propagate and popularise evidence-based , empirical scientific knowledge and its practical implications. Additionally, the KSP is engaged in protecting the general public against pseudoscientific activities that could pose harm (especially in areas such as medicine or clinical / forensic psychology ). The Polish Skeptics Club operates mainly by organising educational events, lectures, conferences and by actively participating in meetings and conferences related to

182-463: A pseudoscience . Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. By the 2000s, the status of paranormal research in the United States had greatly declined from its height in the 1970s, with the majority of work being privately funded and only

273-526: A causal role in the formation of paranormal belief. Research has shown that people reporting contact with aliens have higher levels of absorption, dissociativity, fantasy proneness and tendency to hallucinate . Findings have shown in specific cases that paranormal belief acts as a psychodynamic coping function and serves as a mechanism for coping with stress . Survivors from childhood sexual abuse , violent and unsettled home environments have reported to have higher levels of paranormal belief. A study of

364-488: A ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals. Sometimes the term "ghost" is used synonymously with any spirit or demon ; however, in popular usage the term typically refers to the spirit of a deceased person. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism , an ancient belief that attributed souls to everything in nature. As

455-469: A ghost, he reports that only 1% report seeing a full-fledged ghost while the rest report strange sensory stimuli, such as seeing fleeting shadows or wisps of smoke, or the sensation of hearing footsteps or feeling a presence. Wiseman makes the claim that, rather than experiencing paranormal activity, it is activity within our own brains that creates these strange sensations. Michael Persinger proposed that ghostly experiences could be explained by stimulating

546-523: A lecture for faith healer George E. Ashkar, who allegedly can “cure” 100% of all cases of cancer, AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, bronchial asthma and other conditions. Maciej Zatoński and Tomasz Witkowski protested against spreading pseudoscience within the walls of a higher academic institution. They published an Open Letter Against Popularisation of Pseudoscience to the Rector of the University. The letter

637-501: A lot of people believe in it because they "want it to be so". A 2013 study that utilized a biological motion perception task discovered a "relation between illusory pattern perception and supernatural and paranormal beliefs and suggest that paranormal beliefs are strongly related to agency detection biases". A 2014 study discovered that schizophrenic patients have more belief in psi than healthy adults. Some scientists have investigated possible neurocognitive processes underlying

728-665: A number of reforms in science such as the use of study pre-registration and the implementation of reporting guidelines with the goal of bettering scientific research practices. Evidence-based education (EBE), also known as evidence-based interventions , is a model in which policy-makers and educators use empirical evidence to make informed decisions about education interventions (policies, practices, and programs). In other words, decisions are based on scientific evidence rather than opinion. EBE has gained attention since English author David H. Hargreaves suggested in 1996 that education would be more effective if teaching, like medicine,

819-700: A random sample of 502 adults revealed paranormal experiences were common in the population which were linked to a history of childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms. Research has also suggested that people who perceive themselves as having little control over their lives may develop paranormal beliefs to help provide an enhanced sense of control. The similarities between paranormal events and descriptions of trauma have also been noted. Gender differences in surveys on paranormal belief have reported women scoring higher than men overall and men having greater belief in UFOs and extraterrestrials. Surveys have also investigated

910-560: A report entitled Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and its Implications for Reading Instruction that provided a comprehensive review of what was known about best practices in reading instruction in the U.S. This occurred around the same time as such international studies as the Programme for International Student Assessment in 2000 and

1001-454: A small amount of research being carried out in university laboratories. In 2007, Britain had a number of privately funded laboratories in university psychology departments. Publication remained limited to a small number of niche journals, and to date there have been no experimental results that have gained wide acceptance in the scientific community as valid evidence of the paranormal. While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of

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1092-501: A subset of pseudoscience . What sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception (ESP), telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, and so forth. The explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of "psychic forces", "human energy fields", and so on. This

1183-439: A term coined by the subculture. Approaching the paranormal from a research perspective is often difficult because of the lack of acceptable physical evidence from most of the purported phenomena. By definition, the paranormal (or supernatural) does not conform to conventional expectations of nature . Therefore, a phenomenon cannot be confirmed as paranormal using the scientific method because, if it could be, it would no longer fit

1274-514: A way to cope in the face of psychological uncertainties and physical stressors. The deficiency hypothesis asserts that such beliefs arise because people are mentally defective in some way, ranging from low intelligence or poor critical thinking ability to a full-blown psychosis' (Radin). The deficiency hypothesis gets some support from the fact that the belief in the paranormal is an aspect of a schizotypical personality (Pizzagalli, Lehman and Brugger, 2001). A psychological study involving 174 members of

1365-404: Is Andrzej Gregosiewicz. Evidence-based Evidence-based practice is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence . The movement towards evidence-based practices attempts to encourage and, in some instances, require professionals and other decision-makers to pay more attention to evidence to inform their decision-making. The goal of evidence-based practice

1456-531: Is a factor underlying paranormal belief. Many studies have found a link between personality and psychopathology variables correlating with paranormal belief. Some studies have also shown that fantasy proneness correlates positively with paranormal belief. Bainbridge (1978) and Wuthnow (1976) found that the most susceptible people to paranormal belief are those who are poorly educated, unemployed or have roles that rank low among social values. The alienation of these people due to their status in society

1547-595: Is an approach to medical practice intended to optimize decision-making by emphasizing the use of evidence from well-designed and well-conducted research . Although all medicine based on science has some degree of empirical support, evidence-based medicine goes further, classifying evidence by its epistemologic strength and requiring that only the strongest types (coming from meta-analyses , systematic reviews , and randomized controlled trials ) can yield strong recommendations; weaker types (such as from case-control studies ) can yield only weak recommendations. The term

1638-424: Is called metascience , which seeks to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing waste. It is also known as "research on research" and "the science of science", as it uses research methods to study how research is done and where improvements can be made. The five main areas of research in metascience are methodology, reporting, reproducibility , evaluation , and incentives. Metascience has produced

1729-412: Is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the study of the paranormal. The magazine Fortean Times continues Charles Fort's approach, regularly reporting anecdotal accounts of the paranormal. Such anecdotal collections, lacking the reproducibility of empirical evidence , are not amenable to scientific investigation . The anecdotal approach is not a scientific approach to

1820-519: Is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to extrasensory perception (for example, telepathy ), spiritualism and the pseudosciences of ghost hunting , cryptozoology , and ufology . Proposals regarding the paranormal are different from scientific hypotheses or speculations extrapolated from scientific evidence because scientific ideas are grounded in empirical observations and experimental data gained through

1911-402: Is extremely complex. The process can be greatly simplified with the use of a heuristic that ranks the relative strengths of results obtained from scientific research, which is called a hierarchy of evidence . The design of the study and the endpoints measured (such as survival or quality of life ) affect the strength of the evidence. Typically, systematic reviews and meta-analysis rank at

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2002-438: Is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, which, although very bad science, are still couched in acceptable scientific terms. Ghost hunting is the investigation of locations that are reportedly haunted by ghosts . Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. In traditional ghostlore , and fiction featuring ghosts,

2093-448: Is independent of extraversion and psychoticism ". A correlation has been found between paranormal belief and irrational thinking . In an experiment Wierzbicki (1985) reported a significant correlation between paranormal belief and the number of errors made on a syllogistic reasoning task, suggesting that believers in the paranormal have lower cognitive ability . A relationship between narcissistic personality and paranormal belief

2184-436: Is natural for our brains to work too hard at it, thereby detecting human or ghost-like behavior in everyday meaningless stimuli. James Randi , an investigator with a background in illusion , felt that the simplest explanation for those claiming paranormal abilities is often trickery, illustrated by demonstrating that the spoon bending abilities of psychic Uri Geller can easily be duplicated by trained stage magicians. He

2275-423: Is said to encourage them to appeal to paranormal or magical beliefs. Research has associated paranormal belief with low cognitive ability , low IQ and a lack of science education . Intelligent and highly educated participants involved in surveys have proven to have less paranormal belief. Tobacyk (1984) and Messer and Griggs (1989) discovered that college students with better grades have less belief in

2366-413: Is supported by this evidence according to at least one of the individual's or organisation's preferences in the given practice area. Third, the individual or organisation can provide a sound account for this support by explaining the evidence and preferences that lay the foundation for the claim. For most of history, professions have based their practices on expertise derived from experience passed down in

2457-410: Is to eliminate unsound or outdated practices in favor of more-effective ones by shifting the basis for decision making from tradition, intuition, and unsystematic experience to firmly grounded scientific research. The proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to individuals as well as traditional practices. Evidence-based practices have been gaining ground since

2548-548: The English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts: para and normal . The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para . On the classification of paranormal subjects, psychologist Terence Hines said in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003): The paranormal can best be thought of as

2639-910: The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in 2001. Subsequently, evidence-based practice in education (also known as Scientifically based research ), came into prominence in the U.S. under the No child left behind act of 2001, replace in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act . In 2002 the U.S. Department of Education founded the Institute of Education Sciences to provide scientific evidence to guide education practice and policy . English author Ben Goldacre advocated in 2013 for systemic change and more randomized controlled trials to assess

2730-548: The Society for Psychical Research completed a delusional ideation questionnaire and a deductive reasoning task. As predicted, the study showed that "individuals who reported a strong belief in the paranormal made more errors and displayed more delusional ideation than skeptical individuals". There was also a reasoning bias which was limited to people who reported a belief in, rather than experience of, paranormal phenomena. The results suggested that reasoning abnormalities may have

2821-436: The scientific method . In contrast, those who argue for the existence of the paranormal explicitly do not base their arguments on empirical evidence but rather on anecdote, testimony and suspicion. The standard scientific models give the explanation that what appears to be paranormal phenomena is usually a misinterpretation, misunderstanding or anomalous variation of natural phenomena . The term paranormal has existed in

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2912-419: The 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough (1890), souls were seen as the 'creature within' which animated the body. Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to the clothing worn by

3003-476: The Chinese students showing greater skepticism. According to American surveys analysed by Bader et al . (2011) African Americans have the highest belief in the paranormal and while the findings are not uniform the "general trend is for whites to show lesser belief in most paranormal subjects". Polls show that about fifty percent of the United States population believe in the paranormal. Robert L. Park says

3094-675: 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, and 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

3185-410: The KSP are regularly reported by local and national media, and KSP members are often invited as experts. For example, Tomasz Garstka has been invited numerous times to national programmes to comment on clairvoyance or hypnosis as a form of therapy. Witkowski often appears as an expert in discussions on pseudoscience in psychology, psychotherapy and education. The medical expert on alternative medicine

3276-610: The KSP joined the global 10:23 Campaign , where members of skeptical organisations around the globe "overdosed" on homeopathic “pills”. The campaign's goal was to focus public attention on the lack of any value of homeopathic “remedies” in treatment or prophylaxis of any medical conditions. The Sisyphus Prize of 25,000 Euro has been offered by the Belgian skeptical organisation Studiekring voor de Kritische Evaluatie van Pseudowetenschap en het Paranormale (SKEPP) to anyone who can demonstrate, under scientifically controlled conditions,

3367-734: The KSP were conducting numerous similar activities before the club was formally established. In the Spring of 2009, Tomasz Witkowski together with Łukasz Turski and Tomasz Sowiński from the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences had written an open letter “In Defence of Reason”. The letter was addressed to the former Minister of Work and Social Policy - Jolanta Fedak. The authors protested against officially recognising such professions as fortune tellers , astrologers , bioenergotherapists, clairvoyants , etc. The letter

3458-809: The Polish Association of Rationalists ( Polskie Stowarzyszenie Racjonalistów ), the KSP hosted a lecture for Jerry Coyne from the Department of Ecology and Evolution of Chicago University , entitled “Why religion and science …”. Chris French , the Head of Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit from Goldsmiths College in London , was a guest speaker during another event hosted by the KSP (Weird science: Introduction to Anomalistic Psychology”) on 24 June 2014. In 2017, Klub Sceptyków Polskich along with Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos (Czech Skeptic's Club), organised

3549-714: The Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is an organization that aims to publicize the scientific, skeptical approach. It carries out investigations aimed at understanding paranormal reports in terms of scientific understanding, and publishes its results in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine. CSI's Richard Wiseman draws attention to possible alternative explanations for perceived paranormal activity in his article, The Haunted Brain . While he recognizes that approximately 15% of people believe they have experienced an encounter with

3640-493: The ability to accomplish feats that are paranormal or impossible according to present scientific knowledge. For one year (1 October 2012 – 30 September 2013), an anonymous businessman from Antwerp increased the value of the prize to 1,000,000 Euro. The Polish Skeptics Club was invited to conduct the entry qualification tests in Poland. As of June 2015, not a single candidate managed to demonstrate his/her paranormal skills, despite

3731-825: The above, members of the KSP prepare petitions and public inquiries to relevant public authorities in cases where public safety might be compromised (e.g. medical / psychological therapies). The KSP cooperates with local and national media in order to popularise critical thinking, empirical knowledge and unmasking pseudoscience. The KSP organises lectures, meetings, conferences and other events promoting health awareness and health knowledge. The Polish Skeptics Club supports researchers and practitioners, especially if their actions targeted at pseudoscience lead to ostracism from their community and to worsening of their social status. The KSP also cooperates with individuals and institutions with similar stated aims. The KSP realises its stated goals by unmasking pseudoscience in public domains. Members of

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3822-442: The belief in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps. The first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves " ufologists " in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate

3913-549: The brain with weak magnetic fields. Swedish psychologist Pehr Granqvist and his team, attempting to replicate Persinger's research, determined that the paranormal sensations experienced by Persinger's subjects were merely the result of suggestion, and that brain stimulation with magnetic fields did not result in ghostly experiences. Oxford University Justin Barrett has theorized that "agency"—being able to figure out why people do what they do—is so important in everyday life, that it

4004-479: The campaign's name in the largest universities in Poland ( University of Social Sciences and Humanities , University of Łódź , University of Warsaw and University of Wrocław ), in numerous offices of psychotherapists and in many bookstores. The culmination point of the campaign was on 1 March, when students were collecting signatures under an open letter to Polish Association of Psychologists , asking to stop distributing useless diagnostic tools and tests. The protest

4095-814: The creation (in 1976) of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) and its periodical, the Skeptical Inquirer . Eventually, more mainstream scientists became critical of parapsychology as an endeavor, and statements by the National Academies of Science and the National Science Foundation cast a pall on the claims of evidence for parapsychology. Today, many cite parapsychology as an example of

4186-407: The definition. (However, confirmation would result in the phenomenon being reclassified as part of science.) Despite this problem, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some researchers simply study the beliefs in the paranormal regardless of whether the phenomena are considered to objectively exist. This section deals with various approaches to

4277-442: The discernment of practitioners and clients. Evidence-based practice is a philosophical approach that is in opposition to tradition . Some degree of reliance on "the way it was always done" can be found in almost every profession, even when those practices are contradicted by new and better information. Some critics argue that since research is conducted on a population level, results may not generalise to each individual within

4368-513: The disclosure of data from clinical trials. The KSP systematically hosts and organises lectures and discussions popularising various aspects of science and unmasking pseudoscience. They were regularly hosted in the “Falanster” book club and café in Wrocław and in the “Psyche” bookstore in Warsaw. Since the closure of “Falanster” they are only organised in Warsaw. On 12 September 2013, in cooperation with

4459-622: The dissemination of evidence-based practices, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology ( SCCAP , Division 53 of the American Psychological Association ) maintain updated information on their websites on evidence-based practices in psychology for practitioners and the general public. An evidence-based practice consensus statement

4550-561: The earliest proponents of evidence-based practice was Archie Cochrane , an epidemiologist who authored the book Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services in 1972. Cochrane's book argued for the importance of properly testing health care strategies, and was foundational to the evidence-based practice of medicine. Cochrane suggested that because resources would always be limited, they should be used to provide forms of health care which had been shown in properly designed evaluations to be effective. Cochrane maintained that

4641-401: The effectiveness of modern and accepted treatments. There has been a push for evidence-based practices in medicine by insurance providers, which have sometimes refused coverage of practices lacking systematic evidence of usefulness. It is now expected by most clients that medical professionals should make decisions based on evidence, and stay informed about the most up-to-date information. Since

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4732-1071: The effects of educational interventions. In 2014 the National Foundation for Educational Research , Berkshire, England published a report entitled Using Evidence in the Classroom: What Works and Why . In 2014 the British Educational Research Association and the Royal Society of Arts advocated for a closer working partnership between teacher-researchers and the wider academic research community. The following websites offer free analysis and information on education research: A variety of other organizations offer information on research and education. Paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture , folk , and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts

4823-415: The evidence-based practice of science is called metascience . An individual or organisation is justified in claiming that a specific practice is evidence-based if, and only if, three conditions are met. First, the individual or organisation possesses comparative evidence about the effects of the specific practice in comparison to the effects of at least one alternative practice. Second, the specific practice

4914-516: The fact that a few of them publicly declared that they would undertake the challenge. On 27 February 2012 over 140 Polish scientists, practicing psychologists and university students joined a KSP-led four-day protest against using invalidated and potentially harmful tests by clinical and forensic psychologists. The campaign was focused primarily on the Rorschach test (and other projective tests). On this day, protesters showed up wearing t-shirts with

5005-420: The field of education is attributable to practice resting in the unconnected and noncumulative experience of thousands of individual teachers, each re-inventing the wheel and failing to learn from hard scientific evidence about 'what works'. Opponents of this view argue that it is hard to assess teaching methods because it depends on a host of factors, not least those to do with the style, personality and beliefs of

5096-434: The form of tradition . Many of these practices have not been justified by evidence, which has sometimes enabled quackery and poor performance. Even when overt quackery is not present, the quality and efficiency of tradition-based practices may not be optimal. As the scientific method has become increasingly recognized as a sound means to evaluate practices, evidence-based practices have become increasingly adopted. One of

5187-399: The formal introduction of evidence-based medicine in 1992 and have spread to the allied health professions , education , management , law , public policy , architecture , and other fields. In light of studies showing problems in scientific research (such as the replication crisis ), there is also a movement to apply evidence-based practices in scientific research itself. Research into

5278-490: The formation of independent ghost hunting groups that advocate immersive research at alleged paranormal locations. One popular website for ghost hunting enthusiasts lists over 300 of these organizations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Scientific skeptics advocate critical investigation of claims of paranormal phenomena: applying the scientific method to reach a rational, scientific explanation of

5369-526: The greatest extent possible, decisions and policies should be based on evidence, not just the beliefs of practitioners, experts, or administrators. It thus tries to ensure that a clinician 's opinion, which may be limited by knowledge gaps or biases, is supplemented with all available knowledge from the scientific literature so that best practice can be determined and applied. It promotes the use of formal, explicit methods to analyze evidence and makes it available to decision makers. It promotes programs to teach

5460-625: The hopes of finding evidence of extrasensory perception . However, it was revealed that Rhine's experiments contained methodological flaws and procedural errors. 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 . Criticisms of the field were focused in

5551-525: The impression of paranormal activity to some people, in fact, where there have been none. The psychologist David Marks wrote that paranormal phenomena can be explained by magical thinking , mental imagery , subjective validation , coincidence , hidden causes, and fraud. According to studies some people tend to hold paranormal beliefs because they possess psychological traits that make them more likely to misattribute paranormal causation to normal experiences. Research has also discovered that cognitive bias

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5642-443: The methods to medical students, practitioners, and policymakers. A process has been specified that provides a standardised route for those seeking to produce evidence of the effectiveness of interventions. Originally developed to establish processes for the production of evidence in the housing sector, the standard is general in nature and is applicable across a variety of practice areas and potential outcomes of interest. To improve

5733-462: The most reliable evidence was that which came from randomised controlled trials . The term " evidence-based medicine " was introduced by Gordon Guyatt in 1990 in an unpublished program description, and the term was later first published in 1992. This marked the first evidence-based practice to be formally established. Some early experiments in evidence-based medicine involved testing primitive medical techniques such as bloodletting , and studying

5824-731: The notion of extraterrestrial visitation. The second camp held a view that coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. Typically, these individuals were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal. Many had backgrounds as active Theosophists or spiritualists , or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements. Both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws . The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings preclude any opportunity for

5915-406: The observed behavior). Specific data-gathering methods, such as recording EMF ( electromagnetic field ) readings at haunted locations, have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observer approach itself. Participant observation, as an approach to the paranormal, has gained increased visibility and popularity through reality television programs like Ghost Hunters , and

6006-404: The oceans; and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat ). He offered many reports of OOPArts , the abbreviation for "out of place" artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He 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

6097-403: The paranormal because it leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. Nevertheless, it is a common approach to investigating paranormal phenomena. Experimental investigation of the paranormal has been conducted by parapsychologists . J. B. Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory in

6188-458: 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, including phenomenological research that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced , rather than to explain them. Participant observation suggests that by immersing oneself in

6279-475: The paranormal. In a case study (Gow, 2004) involving 167 participants the findings revealed that psychological absorption and dissociation were higher for believers in the paranormal. Another study involving 100 students had revealed a positive correlation between paranormal belief and proneness to dissociation. A study (Williams et al . 2007) discovered that " neuroticism is fundamental to individual differences in paranormal belief, while paranormal belief

6370-795: The paranormal: anecdotal , experimental , and participant-observer approaches and the skeptical investigation approach. An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of stories told about the paranormal. 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 paranormal experiences , though there were no doubt many more. 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: The Book of

6461-458: The person. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead ( c.  1550 BCE ), which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress. The possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, in itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are actively engaged in

6552-405: The phenomena to account for the paranormal claims, taking into account that alleged paranormal abilities and occurrences are sometimes hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena. A way of summarizing this method is by the application of Occam's razor , which suggests that the simpler solution is usually the correct one. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly the Committee for

6643-537: The population. Therefore, evidence-based practices may fail to provide the best solution for each individual, and traditional practices may better accommodate individual differences. In response, researchers have made an effort to test whether particular practices work better for different subcultures, personality types etc. Some authors have redefined evidence-based practice to include practice that incorporates common wisdom, tradition, and personal values alongside practices based on evidence. Evaluating scientific research

6734-516: The promotion of empirical knowledge and/or unmasking pseudoscience. Members of the KSP conduct scientific research and are focused on verifying claims, when there is a possibility that they are misleading or false. Members also write and publish (in classic and digital media) articles and information related to promotion and propagation of good research practices, good medical and therapeutic practice (especially in medicine and psychology), unmasking fraudulent or unverified claims, etc. In addition to all of

6825-487: The relationship between ethnicity and paranormal belief. In a sample of American university students (Tobacyk et al . 1988) it was found that people of African descent have a higher level of belief in superstitions and witchcraft while belief in extraterrestrial life forms was stronger among people of European descent . Otis and Kuo (1984) surveyed Singapore university students and found Chinese , Indian and Malay students to differ in their paranormal beliefs, with

6916-432: The repeat testing required by the scientific method . Acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that aims to prove the existence of entities from the folklore record, such as Bigfoot , chupacabras , or Mokele-mbembe . Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids ,

7007-628: The search for unicellular life within the Solar System , carrying out studies on the surface of Mars and examining meteors that have fallen to Earth . Projects such as SETI are conducting an astronomical search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the Solar System. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life also developed on other planets . The paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around

7098-676: The seventeenth European Skeptics Congress (ESC).This event was held in Old Town Wrocław, Poland. The ESC has been held every two years since 1989, each time hosted by a different member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO). Events included skeptical workshops for the general public, as well as lectures on topics such as science and religion, genetically modified organisms , exorcisms and skeptical psychology. Speakers and panellists included Leo Igwe , Gábor Hraskó , Chris French and Amardeo Sarma . Actions of

7189-448: The subject that is being studied, a researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. 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 scientific objectivity of the researcher, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (i.e. observation may distort

7280-516: The teacher and the needs of the particular children. Others argue the teacher experience could be combined with research evidence, but without the latter being treated as a privileged source. This is in line with a school of thought suggesting that evidence-based practice has limitations and a better alternative is to use Evidence-informed Practice (EIP) . This process includes quantitative evidence, does not include non-scientific prejudices, but includes qualitative factors such as clinical experience and

7371-524: The test measures – if it measures anything more than the originality of associations." Since 2010, members of the KSP actively participate in international skeptical congresses , publish in international popular science , and peer-reviewed scientific journals , and comment for international media. In 2013, Polish Skeptics Club was actively engaged in the AllTrials campaign, including petitioning to Polish representatives to European Parliament to support

7462-425: The top of the hierarchy while randomized controlled trials rank above observational studies , and expert opinion and case reports rank at the bottom. There is broad agreement on the relative strength of the different types of studies, but there is no single, universally-accepted hierarchy of evidence. More than 80 different hierarchies have been proposed for assessing medical evidence . Evidence-based medicine

7553-403: The widespread adoption of evidence-based practices in medicine, the use of evidence-based practices has rapidly spread to other fields. More recently, there has been a push for evidence-based education . The use of evidence-based learning techniques such as spaced repetition can improve students' rate of learning. Some commentators have suggested that the lack of any substantial progress in

7644-724: Was a "research-based profession". Since 2000, studies in Australia, England, Scotland and the US have supported the use of research to improve educational practices in teaching reading. In 1997, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development convened a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. The resulting National Reading Panel examined quantitative research studies on many areas of reading instruction, including phonics and whole language. In 2000 it published

7735-624: Was also the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation and its million dollar challenge that offered a prize of US$ 1,000,000 to anyone who could demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Despite many declarations of supernatural ability, the prize was never claimed. In "anomalistic psychology", paranormal phenomena have naturalistic explanations resulting from psychological and physical factors which have sometimes given

7826-405: Was developed at a summit on mental healthcare in 2018. As of June 23, 2019, this statement has been endorsed by 36 organizations. There has since been a movement for the use of evidence-based practice in conducting scientific research in an attempt to address the replication crisis and other major issues affecting scientific research. The application of evidence-based practices to research itself

7917-567: Was discovered in a study involving the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale . De Boer and Bierman wrote: In his article 'Creative or Defective' Radin (2005) asserts that many academics explain the belief in the paranormal by using one of the three following hypotheses: Ignorance, deprivation or deficiency. 'The ignorance hypothesis asserts that people believe in the paranormal because they're uneducated or stupid. The deprivation hypothesis proposes that these beliefs exist to provide

8008-606: Was originally used to describe an approach to teaching the practice of medicine and improving decisions by individual physicians about individual patients. Use of the term rapidly expanded to include a previously described approach that emphasized the use of evidence in the design of guidelines and policies that apply to groups of patients and populations ("evidence-based practice policies"). Whether applied to medical education, decisions about individuals, guidelines and policies applied to populations, or administration of health services in general, evidence-based medicine advocates that to

8099-449: Was signed by 4,982 people, including Polish scientists from around the world. This event was covered by national media. The Ministry ignored the signatories of the letter, but the action greatly increased public awareness of pseudoscience penetrating all aspects of social, legal and educational activities. The course of events was also covered by the Skeptical Inquirer . In May 2010, the Institute of Psychology at Opole University hosted

8190-437: Was signed by over 200 signatories and was covered by media. In the Spring of 2013, students of Opole University invited a clairvoyant, Krzysztof Jackowski to lecture. The KSP protested against such practices, but the Rector decided to host the lecture. The KSP is well known for its very critical approach to homeopathy . KSP members have published many critical articles on homeopathy and pseudoscience in medical practice. In 2011,

8281-622: Was widely covered by national media and was applauded by scientific communities. They considered the fact that methods such as the Rorschach test are used in Polish courts to very dangerous, because they could lead to false accusations and false exonerations. Dariusz Doliński commented: "I know that conclusions about human personality, based on what is seen in the ink blots, can make a huge impression on lay people. But people who are educated in psychology, should be aware that virtually no one knows what

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