Research

[Ray Ford]

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

Let's look at the term "study." 

In common parlance, we hear the word used in three ways:

First, the word is used as somewhat of a synonym for observation--for seeing--for looking--for watching.  A person who sees something, perhaps for the first time, might "study" the thing for a while, meaning that he looks at it or watches it for a period of time exceeding just a passing glance.  A person might say, I saw a creature that I didn't recognize and stood there and "studied" it for 10 or 15 minuties, meaning that he watched it for a while.  This usage is probably a little bit archaic.

Second, the word is used in connection with teaching and learning--with the process of education.  A person in an educational endeavor "studies" the material that is presented to him by his educators in order to learn that material.  We hear students say, for example, that they are "studying" for a test.  This is a very common use of the word "study."

Third, the word is used to indicate an endeavor that approaches, or is, research.  A person who wants to know if an activity will produce certain results, might design a double blind, O-X-O "study" to test a hypothesis that people taking a certain food additive will have a smaller risk of getting sick.  He identifies an experimental group and a control group.  The experimental group is given the food additive for the proper time, and the frequency of sickness in the group is observed and recorded.  The control group is given what they think is the food additive, but isn't, for the same period of time, and, again, the frequency of sickness in the group is observed and recorded.  If those not actually taking the food additive get sick with a statistically significant greater frequency, the "study" has probably shown that the food additive prevents sickness to some degree.  Hence, you have the words, "Studies show...."

 

[Ray Ford]

What do we mean by the term "study?"

There are some three ways that we commonly hear the word used:

First, in an observational way.  A person may look at something in such a way, and for such a time, as to be said to study the thing.  The person is seeing it--looking at it--observing it.

Second, in a learning endeavor.  If a person is attempting to learn something, he will study it--and there are different ways to study.  If the person is responsible to a teacher for learning something, he will study it for a possible test.  An example of this kind of study is when a teenager studies the driving manuel issued by his state to learn what he needs to do to pass his driving test and get a driver's license.

Third, in a research endeavor.  If a person wants to know if eating a particular food additive will reduce illness in people, he may design a double blind study.  He will establish an experimental group and a control group.  The experimental group will be given the food additive, perhaps as a pill, for a sufficient time, and the level of illnesses in that group will be observed and recorded.  The control group will be given a pill that they think is the additive but isn't.  The level of illnesses in that group will be observed and recorded.  If the experimental group has a statistically significant lower level of illnesses than the control group, it will be reported that a study showed that giving the food additive lowered the level of illnesses in people.

I did a study once in which I sent questionaires to editors of newspapers in Oklahoma.  I asked what they wanted to see in people they hired to work on their newspapers as reporters.  I gave them several things to check.  I also provided a place for them to write in something that wasn't on my list.  A number wrote in that they wanted the new hire-in to have a knowledge of English.  A few commented that, if the person hired could read and write well, then they could teach the person what else they needed to know.  My study, inadvertantly, showed that a basic skill, English, was most important!  I was working on my B.A. in Religious-Journalism at the University of Tulsa when I did that study--for one of my classes.

I'm willing to study Bigfeet and the attendant people and things.
I'm willing to do research in the area.
But mostly what I'll be doing is observing.
Maybe I'll do some investigations of the observations/encounters of others.
You study!
You research!
I'll observe and investigate observations.
And we'll all be happy--I hope.

[Ray Ford]

The most valuable information about these creatures[bigfeet] [is] what [n]ative peoples have as lore. That is ignored and discounted. [/color]

Perhaps the best way to define "lore" is as old, transmitted knowledge.  (My wife's cousin, in a conversation that I had with her about how her father once took a length of rope, tied it into a knot and loop or two, and made me a halter with which to hold a horse that I had bought from him.  I told her that I untied the knots and loops to salvage the rope--which was a mistake.  I had since forgotten exactly how he tied them.  She mentioned how many things that her mother knew that she had not learned.  She then commented how sad it was that "so much lore had died with the old folks."  She herself died recently.  I loved that girl, and her husband and my wife knew it.)

What about the bigfoot lore that the native peoples had/have?  The other evening, as I watched an episode of "Monster Quest" about an expedition to Canada in search of reported Sasquatch, I heard a person say that "sasquatch" was a term coined by a man who had studied Native American traditions about such creatures.  (Is "sasquatch" plural or singular--or either?)  Is anyone familar with that man's work and does anyone know where it can be accessed?  Has anyone out there done much research on Native American lore on bigfeet?

BTW, on that "Monster Quest" expedition, on the last evening that the group was at the fishing and hunting cabin in the area where "activity" had been reported, a rock was thrown out of the woods and hit the cabin.  One of the expedition members returned fire: he threw a rock back into the woods.  Another rock was thrown which hit the top of the cabin and rolled down the roof.  But no sasquatch were seen or photographed.