How not to test mediums : critiquing The Afterlife Experiments - 1

The worst mistake made by Schwartz and his colleagues was to publish the results they have obtained so far. Instead, they should have first tried to gather evidence for their hypothesis that would meet generally accepted scientific criteria. By submitting their very inadequate studies to public scrutiny and by demanding that skeptics "explain away" their defective data, they have lost credibility. In addition, the journals that did accept these studies for publication and Schwartz's panel of Friendly Devil's Advocates have also suffered greatly in credibility.

Schwartz's Inadequate and Inappropriate Response to Criticisms

Schwartz's responses to criticisms such as those made by Wiseman and O'Keeffe obscure rather than clarify matters. (4) For example, regarding his failure to provide safeguards against sensory leakage, he complains that Wiseman and O'Keeffe "curiously did not mention that we were fully cognizant of such issues and were actively researching them at the time the Schwartz et al. paper was published." The fact that the researchers were aware that they had not provided adequate safeguards against sensory leakage does not in any way make their data more acceptable. Indeed, if they were aware of how to properly control for this flaw, it is even more inexcusable that they failed to do so. Why did they publish data they knew to be compromised and try to pass them off as legitimate science?

Indeed, Schwartz actually states that he deliberately allowed for some sensory leakage to see if "the remaining subtle cues" could explain the subsequent accuracy of the mediums' statements. He also states that he wanted to begin with "a semi-naturalistic design ... to develop a professional relationship with the mediums. ..." If, in fact, this was his rationale for using an inadequate design, then he should have treated the study as a preliminary probe to see if the mediums could work under laboratory conditions. Such a preliminary or pilot study, however, should then be followed up with a formal, properly conducted experiment. Knowing how to properly control for sensory leakage in no way licenses the publishing of flawed data to support a hypothesis.

In defending himself against the charge of sensory leakage, Schwartz uses another tactic that violates acceptable scientific conduct. He tries to shift the burden of proof onto the skeptic: "Skeptics who speculate that 'cold reading' can achieve similar results have a responsibility to show that identical findings can be obtained under the conditions used in the Schwartz et al. research (e.g., the single-blind sitter-silent condition that effectively rules out pre-experimental information and verbal feedback). We welcome such experiments."

Sorry, Professor Schwartz. The skeptics and the scientific community have no responsibility to show anything until you provide them with data collected according to well-established and acceptable standards. The responsibility is yours to first provide us with evidence for your hypothesis of survival of consciousness that is gathered according to the appropriate scientific standards which include controlling for sensory leakage; devising dependent variables that are relevant, reliable, and valid; and using control comparisons that are meaningful.