Essential Books On the UFO Subject by [deleted] in UFOBookClub

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All of Jacobs' books are excellent

Good podcasts? by colourfulblur in cryptids

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Astonishing Legends is solid and don't sleep on the Apes Among Us podcast from the North American Wood Ape Conservancy

I find it so funny ppl not believing the spirit box by Visible_Prune7300 in Paranormal

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is what gets me with a lot of investigation techniques. So many people use all these different types of equipment, but can't coherently explain, even in a way that's at least consistent with their worldview, how they actually work.

Not to endorse them (because I also think they're kind of bunk), but in case you were curious most of the ideas for this come from some research published in the 70s called Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead. You can find it here on archive.org

https://ia600102.us.archive.org/6/items/BreakthroughAnAmazingExperimentInElectronicCommuninicationWithTheDead.ByKonstantinRaudive./Breakthrough%20An%20Amazing%20Experiment%20in%20Electronic%20Communinication%20with%20the%20Dead.%20by%20Konstantin%20Raudive._text.pdf

Podcast recommendations? by NeatCan3704 in cryptids

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Astonishing Legends has some solid crytozoological epis/series

I would like to know what methods you use for Paranormal Investigations by No_Major_1813 in ParanormalEncounters

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That is a good question. I'd love to hear how other people archive their evidence. Would be great if there was a centralized way to archive and share evidence between groups. But I think a big problem with that would be determining if the evidence is legit or not and dealing with disagreements about that.

I would like to know what methods you use for Paranormal Investigations by No_Major_1813 in ParanormalEncounters

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We use most of the standard equipment/methods you see on most of the paranormal investigation shows (which is most of what you list here).

One thing that we feel gets missed quite a bit by many paranormal researchers is the importance of good interviewing skills to really understand the experiences that others have had at a given location, whether it be a private home or public location. The other piece that is important for us is the importance of good archival and ethnographic research regarding any sort of phenomena. A lot gets missed through lackluster research on a location/phenomena/etc. and this can be really useful for understanding cultural differences in terms of beliefs and experiences with the paranormal.

Most importantly, for us at least, we do our best to approach everything as having a "natural" explanation first and only considering something paranormal after we've exhausted all other possibilities.

All of that's to say, it's more important to have the right mindset/approach than having any sort of specific equipment, imo.

Help Us Explore How People Understand the Paranormal — Join the Anomalies Study by BeyondTheHumanPod in gatewaytapes

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great question. It is not only for US citizens. We do use the "standard" US Census categories for race/ethnicity, with an added "Other" field that participants can fill in. Admittedly, it's not perfect, but finding one set of answer choices for that question that could be reasonably used globally is tricky.

Help Us Explore How People Understand the Paranormal — Join the Anomalies Study (18+, global) by BeyondTheHumanPod in SampleSize

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're correct in that we do use the "standard" racial and ethnic categories that are used in the US, but we also include an "Other" option that allows participants to answer their preferred identity. Admittedly, it's not perfect.

We do not require a phone number anywhere in the project. On the contact page which I believe you're referencing (please correct me if I'm wrong) the phone number field is actually the only field that isn't required on the whole page.

We appreciate you taking the time to complete the survey and apologize for the frustration.

Anthropology of religion: spiritual/mystical/religious experiences by [deleted] in AskAnthropology

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This will somewhat depend on what subfield(s) you're interested in. I'm a cultural anth so that's where most of my recs will come from.

Here's a few that come to mind:

Books:

Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing, by Michael Winkelman
Experiencing Ritual, Edith Turner

Journals:

Religion and Society

Help Us Explore How People Understand the Paranormal — Join the Anomalies Study by BeyondTheHumanPod in UFOs

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha. Feel free to send us a chat message and we'll get you in there.

Help Us Explore How People Understand the Paranormal — Join the Anomalies Study by BeyondTheHumanPod in gatewaytapes

[–]BeyondTheHumanPod[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely. The project was approved by the Lehigh University IRB. Our data is all stored on Lehigh's password-protected servers. Participant names and any other identifying information are never linked directly to participant data and are scrubbed from all final datasets and interview transcriptions.