METHODS FOR INVESTIGATING GOAL-ORIENTED PSI

Experimental research in parapsychology may be of little value if psi is goal-oriented and the sources of psi focus on certain types of goal s. Experimenters and research participants: may focus on particular ou tcomes from a hierarchy of goals that on include wanting successful ou tcomes for: individual trials, individual subjects, individual experim ents, lines of research, personal careers, and the field of parapsycho logy. There is strong evidence that goal-oriented psi applies on the l owest level of this hierarchy of goals, the level of individual trials . The normal statistical assumptions of experimental design and analys is and of communication theory do not apply for outcomes that are belo w the goal of the psi sources on the hierarchy of goals. This: fact is intrinsic to the concept of god-oriented psi and is clearly demonstra ted by majority-vote studies, particularly a study that found approxim ately equal scoring rates on a direct, blind comparison of psi scoring on single-event and majority-vote trials. Goal-oriented psi can be in vestigated by finding where the normal statistical assumptions stop ap plying on the hierarchy of goals. If the goal of the psi source is a s uccessful experimental outcome, or higher on the hierarchy of gods, th en the assumptions for statistical research break down. Available evid ence from meta-analyses is consistent with this hypothesis, but is not compelling at present because of possible confounding factors. Majori ty-vote studies also reveal consistent internal patterns that suggest psi achieves goals efficiently. These internal patterns also reflect t he nonapplicability of normal statistical assumptions and can be used to investigate goal-oriented psi. The concept of efficient goal-orient ed psi operating in a hierarchy of goals suggests that the elusive, ca pricious nature of psi may sometimes reflect psi efficiently achieving goals relatively high on the hierarchy.