Quote:
Originally Posted by davidsmith73  Hi Alex,
You probably know this already, but whatever you do, don't adopt Wiseman et al.'s (1999) criteria for a successful trial because it introduces a huge amount of noise that will suppresses a potential psi effect. Stick to using the proportion of time spent in the 'waiting spot' like Sheldrake's analysis. |
Wiseman's criteria actually tested to see whether the dog has any predictive abilities. Sheldrake's don't.
If the owner returns 100 minutes after the start of the trial and the dog starts "signalling" 10 minutes after the start of the trial and stays there until the owner comes home then the proportion of time spent in the "waiting position" will be 90% and 100% for the main period and the return period respectively. If this was repeated enough times it would attain statistical significance.
This is an extreme example but it demonstrates that Sheldrake's criteria are not a valid measure.