After more than a year of development, I am pleased to announce the 'NDE Content Review Study'.  This will be a major scientific study, and a discussion of this project is presented below.  This study will involve review of published NDEs via a detailed web questionnaire form with 244 questions.
 

NDE Content Review Study Overview        

            The study's web questionnaire form for NDE content will review all major aspects of NDE, with emphasis on spiritual content.  The web form questions will allow check box or narrative responses, as appropriate.   Most text box narrative responses are answered by copying the content of the account posted on NDERF and pasting in response to the question.  Reviewers will be encouraged to add their own comments as part of their NDE review process; however the importance of objectivity in reviewing NDEs is emphasized.  After the web form is completed and submitted by the reviewer, the data is archived.

            This study will be a volunteer project.  Initially, only NDEs posted on NDERF will be reviewed.  This study methodology is flexible enough to investigate NDEs from other sources and also experiences that are not NDEs, and these would be reasonable considerations for future projects  There is a regularly updated index of NDEs that have been reviewed at: Index Experiences Reviewed.

Due to the volume of NDEs studied, it will be possible to do a more in-depth study of many NDE topics than has been previously possible.  This study is expected to contribute greatly to our collective understanding of NDE.  The degree of consistency or inconsistency of NDE content (including spiritual content) will be assessed.

            This project will also have the dual important purpose of allowing the content of NDEs regarding specific topics to be shared with the world.  This should greatly facilitate understanding of the message of NDEs for a wide range of important topics.  A listing of topics and associated content from multiple NDE accounts relevant to the topic is posted at: Content Review Main Page.  It is expected this will updated periodically and new topics added.
 

Why Study NDEs with this Process?

            This will be a scientific study of NDE.  In general, the scientific method may be conceptualized as 'dealing with a particular method of inquiry of reality and human experience with methods of inquiry allowing empirical observation, measurement, repeatability, and validation with multiple investigators able to confirm observations and results.-  In every sense, this study will adhere to scientific principles to help assure confidence in the study results.

            It is reasonable to use scientific methods to study NDE.  Using scientific methods will help assure the findings of this study are widely accepted.  It should be noted that NDErs themselves are interested in scientific study of NDE.  A NDERF survey asked 251 NDErs 'What could a national organization with an interest in near death experience (NDE) do that would be of most interest to you?'  There were 12 possible specific responses to this question.  The response of 'Scientific study of NDE' was the most common selection. 

            The study methodology presented above has substantial advantages over prior studies of NDE content.  Hundreds of NDEs, more than have ever been reviewed in detail for NDE content by any prior study, will be available for review.

             The great majority of NDEs published on NDERF are in response to a web form with a large number of open-ended questions.  This form is designed to maximize what NDErs share about their experience.  In the original NDERF form asking NDErs 'Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience'?, only 12.4% (of 396 responding) answered 'No'.  In the most recent NDERF form asking the same question, only 5.2% (of 251 responding) answered 'No'.  Given the bias of the question to elicit a 'No' response, the low percentage of 'No' responses is remarkable.  NDErs sharing their experiences with NDERF are generally confident that what they shared describes their experience reasonably accurately.  This is strong validation for this study's methodology of investigating NDEs posted on NDERF, especially those contributed via the NDERF web forms which are the substantial majority.

            A recently published prospective study of NDErs found NDErs remembered their experience essentially verbatim and without significant distortion eight years after their NDE.  Thus, we may be reasonably confident that NDEs shared many years after their occurrence are accurately conveyed. 

            In prior published NDE studies, NDE accounts were often reduced to writing by someone other than the NDEr.  This methodology introduces the possibility of some distortion or even bias in what is recorded.  NDEs for review in this study will have generally been shared in writing directly by the NDEr, eliminating concerns about the accuracy of secondary recording of the NDE accounts.

            The NDEs published on NDERF are available for review by anyone with Internet access at any time.  Continuous availability of the NDE accounts will greatly facilitate achieving consensus regarding their content.  A major and unique advantage of this type of study is that the conclusions are directly traceable to the original data source of published NDEs.  This allows anyone at any future time to personally review the chain of evidence leading to, and accuracy of, any conclusions reached in this study.  This has not been possible in any prior NDE study.

            NDEs studied will be more diverse with regard to geographic location of NDE occurrence and NDEr cultural background than has been possible in any prior NDE study.  This study will include non-English language NDEs which have been translated into English, including non-Western civilization NDEs.  Reviewing large numbers of NDEs from diverse cultures will help determine the appropriateness of generalizing the study findings to NDEs from around the world with a level of confidence not previously possible.

            This research methodology is a pioneering process.  It is expected we will learn a great deal about how to conduct studies with this methodology as we gain experience in its use.  This study is a dynamic process, and the methodology may be altered as experience with the use of this methodology develops.  As additional NDEs are shared over the years, it would be relatively easy to use this study methodology to review them, add to the database of NDE reviews, and gain new insights.

            Data from this study will be freely available to credible researchers.  These data should be enormously valuable to future NDE researchers, and hopefully will stimulate further interest in NDE research.

            The potential implications of this study are enormous.

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