Research

[Ruthie]

I was just wondering. Where can actual research be found by Pywacket,  powderman, Teufelwald, Public-Enemy, and Telahnay's g'son?

[Teufelwald]

I am not a Bigfoot researcher...I am just someone who has had 2 encounters with bigfoot type creatures!

[Ruthie]

Oh okay thank you for clearing that up. I was hoping to find the research threads of you guys. Its apparent that other threads meander off topic to other things.

[#59]

Ruthie,

In the Sightings & Encounters section you'll find info about some of the events that occurred while doing various forms of "research" that I used to do in a previous life.

Presently, I have a project ongoing with the end result to determine some of the dietary habits/preferences of SF and will present more data as the work evolves.

[Teufelwald]

I do not know if going out in the field to maybe get a look at another one of these creatures could be considered research....but thats what I do and thats what a lot of people do......I do not call myself a researcher...that sounds like a scientist or something?
Beware of BS artists that get on the internet and talk like they see Bigfoot every night on a regular basis....I seen one in 1976 and a second ftf encounter in 1985 and have not seen another creature since.......I go out with my night vision and watch wildlife....last night I saw 2 deer and a raccoon standing together! 

[#59]

I do not know if going out in the field to maybe get a look at another one of these creatures could be considered research....but thats what I do and thats what a lot of people do......I do not call myself a researcher...that sounds like a scientist or something?
Beware of BS artists that get on the internet and talk like they see Bigfoot every night on a regular basis....I seen one in 1976 and a second ftf encounter in 1985 and have not seen another creature since.......I go out with my night vision and watch wildlife....last night I saw 2 deer and a raccoon standing together! 

BINGO!

Some of these websites must feel like they hafta produce a "sighting du jour" based upon their membership's apparent expectations.

The reality is actually many of those immersed in major heavy duty "activities" are keeping much of their findings confidential especially given the antics displayed by webmasters and members on many of the forums dedicated to BF/SF discussion.  IMHO, 99.44% of the no-kill adherents fall into this (confidential info) catagory and they are the ones with the most data and findings. 

Case in point, if the pro-kill group had all the hard facts in hand they would have most certainly brought a carcass to the media by now.  The possible exceptions are those that either killed one but then upon "ground checking" it really found out what they had committed and did the SS&S routine or those that did not make it out of the woods alive, after the fact.  The "Chicago in the 1920's with a gold rush thrown in to boot" paranoid mentality that is endemic in the pro-kill camp has thankfully (so far) kept them from accomplishing their objective.

Couple this with the fact that as you've stated, actual sightings/encounters are overwhelmingly happenstance with the participants of such events almost always in the process of doing "something else" when the event occurs.  A person only has to peruse the "sightings" area on many BF/SF websites to validate this assertion. 

[Teufelwald]

Yep....they have not remained unknown by accident...just guessing...but I think they are a Apex predator....that is a master of stealth and remaining undetected....a creature the size I saw would have to be a meat eater and a Apex predator to feed itself!

[Prairie Ghost]

I guess you meant Ape-X and not apex, which is the top of a pyramid. 

I agree with Ruthie and Tg's on this.  Research is collecting and compiling empirical data.  Research is not what most of these groups are doing, which is just going out in the woods and playing or collecting souvenirs (plaster casts, photos, recordings.)  And I think sound blasting useless because it doesn't prove anything but probably ticks them off.

Research is what Tg described that he is doing, trying to collect information to determine what their diet is.  And of course ruling out all other critters, but that is part of the study.

Collecting a database of sighting reports is not research, unless you do what Ray Crowe did, and compile a bell graph to see what time of the day or night sightings occur, which presented some interesting results.  He determined that they were active certain hours of the day and night, and inactive during others which were usually twilight.

[Public-Enemy]

Ruthie,
I'm not a researcher.  

I only post whatever Darren Lee, Doug Bilby or Randy Harrington tells me to.

[Teufelwald]

I guess you meant Ape-X and not apex, which is the top of a pyramid. 

I agree with Ruthie and Tg's on this.  Research is collecting and compiling empirical data.  Research is not what most of these groups are doing, which is just going out in the woods and playing or collecting souvenirs (plaster casts, photos, recordings.)  And I think sound blasting useless because it doesn't prove anything but probably ticks them off.

Research is what Tg described that he is doing, trying to collect information to determine what their diet is.  And of course ruling out all other critters, but that is part of the study.

Collecting a database of sighting reports is not research, unless you do what Ray Crowe did, and compile a bell graph to see what time of the day or night sightings occur, which presented some interesting results.  He determined that they were active certain hours of the day and night, and inactive during others which were usually twilight.

Apex predators (also alpha predators, superpredators, or top-level predators)

[Ray Ford]

What is research?

It oftentimes starts with simple observation.  It has been observed that people in churches with pastors who preach expository sermons seem to have a greater knowledge of the scriptures than people in churches with pastors who preach other types of sermons--consistantly.  When I did my Doctorate of the Ministry, I was required to do an applied research project.  (This is similar to what is required for Doctorates of Education.  It varies from a dissertation and the degree is considered a professional one, not an academic one.)  I designed an O-X-O project in which I tested a group of congregants for their knowledge of the Book of James, then preached a series of didactic sermons on James, then retested the group.  The congregants did not know what I was doing.  I measured an increase in knowledge of James from before to after the sermon series.  The research would have been good research even if I had not.  Instead of proving the hypothesis, it would have disproved it.

I don't personally see a way to do real research on Bigfeet.  There are a few things that might be done--like studying reports of encounters/observations and the people who report them.  But....  Personally, I'm still in the observation stage, and I continue to hold my opinion, which I have stated elsewhere, that the best way to hunt for Bigfeet is to be observant while doing other outdoor activities:  hunting, fishing, camping, hiking....  When observation has supplied more data, we might be able to move toward research by formulating some hypotheses and testing them.

[Ruthie]

I don't personally see a way to do real research on Bigfeet.  There are a few things that might be done--like studying reports of encounters/observations and the people who report them.  But....  Personally, I'm still in the observation stage, and I continue to hold my opinion, which I have stated elsewhere, that the best way to hunt for Bigfeet is to be observant while doing other outdoor activities:  hunting, fishing, camping, hiking....  When observation has supplied more data, we might be able to move toward research by formulating some hypotheses and testing them.

That makes more sense than all the junk I have read up until now. How can it be research if you can't even figure out if it is an ape or a human. There are no controls. No set enviroments. No examples. Nobody with a tame one.  We hear murmers and rumors of this and that. There are folks running around in the "field" aka woods, claiming they see one every time.  There are show men wantabe celebs. Scores of people that say this or that. I want to know based on what?
The most valuable information about these creatures are what Native peoples have as lore. That is ignored and discounted.

[Ray Ford]

I would suggest that, as opposed to the terms "research" and "researcher," that we use the terms "investigation" and "investigator."  We can investigate reported sightings but we can not really research them--in the best use of the term.  The term "researcher" is a little pretentious.  Most of us are hunters or observers--at most.

[Bill]

Personally I like the term STUDY thus the name of this site Bigfoot Study.com

[Ray Ford]

The term "study" will do--except that it does have some connotations.  I'll live with it as the name of this forum.