Who wants to introspect some more? - EDITED
Spiral_69
Explorer
Thank you for adding me to this great forum and greetings to everyone here! 
I'm Lovro Tacol, a master student of Cognitive Science at University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and at University of Vienna (Austria), and for part of my studies I'm carrying out a phenomenological research on peoples' outlook on life, broadly speaking. I will compare outlooks of few groups of people, but right now I'm focusing on comparison between those that consider themselves Buddhists and non-Buddhists. I look at things which may not lend themselves to comparison prima facie, and which then turn to be somehow related - or not.
For this purpose I designed a questionnare whose maint point is to describe your feelings, emotions, thoughts, attitudes, etc. as vividly and as detailedly as possible. Since this is a phenomenological research, the situations inside a questionnaire - as well as the instructions at the beginning - are deliberately vague and non-directive. The point is that you don't think too much about the answers, but instead really just let the experience of the question take you wherever your stream of consciousness is going to go.
To prevent possible misunderstandings I created a short FAQ based on feedback I received so far. Please, read it!
1. Why don't you create better questions with different wording?
The wording of the questions is like this on purpose. This is a qualitative research, aimed to describe a "lived experience" of a phenomenon, and the "How would you feel if ..." part is intended to encourage you to immerse into re-experiencing a certain situation. Doing so, you can try to transmit everything occuring in your field of conscioussnes into words.
2. Why isn't this questionnare more carefully tailored for Buddhists?
Simply because I'm using the same questionnaire for different groups - only if a researcher asks different people the same questions, it gives him or her the opportunity to make comparisons.
3. Why are the situations so vague?
On purpose. The point here is to be as non-directive as possible. Describe whatever you want and however you want. As long as it's at least 5 sentences.
4. Why do you ask only about hypothetical situations?
Only the wording is like this, i. e. hypothetical ("How would you feel if ...") - again on purpose. Of course, all of you have most probably encountered all of the situations already, but this doesn't mean that now you aren't able to imagine them - either actual ones or similar imagined ones. If you want to describe certain situation, do it. As long as it's vivid and involves every aspect of your inner world.
5. Doesn't the description itself create a separation from the experience (which the experiencer cannot be really separated from)?
It does. If one would go into the extreme, one would even see that an accurate translation of certain experience into words is practically impossible. This is partly because we simply lack the suitable words to describe the multitude and subtlety of our inner lives. Secondly, even if one tries to directly, immediately, report the experience - "in medias res" - by doing that one already alters the original experience and makes it something else (the experience of describing, let's say).
However, one can learn to immerse oneself into reliving, re-experiencing certain event and let go; one can fairly enough translate the experience into a written report. Don't you agree that the narrative produced in such manner is far richer with information that blant points, which are usually gathered with standard psychological questionnaires?
Since I still need quite a lot of participants, I'd be more than glad and thankful if you would take your time and answer the attached questions.
Those who will decide to help me, please, send the completed questionnaire on:
lovro.tacol@gmail.com
Thank you again and much love 
,
Lovro
Comments
Sorry I don't have Office because I am a skinflint.
@SpinyNorman You can open word documents in open office which is completely free to download for personal use.
Dear Lovro -- I mean no disrespect, but "imagining" something only underlines the fact that I am capable of imagining.
Buddhism as a practice aims to cut through imaginings, whether intellectual or emotional, and directly experience what occurs. In this sense, Buddhism is not simply a branch of psychology, although I grant you that many people may treat it that way.
Which is more useful -- to see or to document the imaginative, self-referential creations that can arise from seeing?
Good luck with your research.
You can also download it to your computer, and then upload it to Google Drive.
@Spiral_69 I am finding it a bit difficult to answer the questions in the way you are requesting, because they are rather vague. How I'd feel if I lost my job, for example, would vary greatly depending on whether I was laid off, whether I was fired, whether the business closed etc. How I'd feel if someone close to me died would vary, too. How I'd feel if my husband or child(ren) died would be different than how I'd feel if my 89 year old grandmother died. So for that reason, I find it difficult to imagine the situations because they vary greatly depending on exactly which person or situation I choose. Since I might choose to imagine myself getting fired over a mistake, someone else might choose getting their position cut, that seems like it would make your results hard to compile?
Also, kind of along with what @genkaku said most of the time as Buddhist we try to nip that kind of thinking, so that makes it hard to answer from a Buddhist perspective. We try to reduce the stories our minds create as we think of situations. We try to stay in the present and appreciate it for the perfectness that it is without straying too much into the past or future to think how we'd act and feel. A lot of the time those imagined/anticipated events are much worse than what really happens, so it's hard to know. In reality I might deal with something much better in the midst of an event because of the exact conditions present (the people, the reasoning, the environment) rather than what our minds can cook up, since they tend to be a bit dark and dire when imagining difficult situations. I try to work with what is right in front of me rather than thinking about "what ifs" and attempting to go back the other way might be difficult.
I will consider your questions this evening, but I am having trouble with them for those reasons.
It may have been more constructive (with regard to getting you results) @Spiral_69 , had you perhaps enlisted the assistance of someone Buddhist to formulate the questions with better phrasing....?
You have also asked questions with a certain assumption that Buddhists have not had those experiences....
"How would you feel..." appears to presume that your participants have hitherto not gone through any of the events you mentioned...
"Have you ever..... and if so, how did you process the experience?" may have been more conducive to better responses....
To add somewhat belatedly, to my post:
How did you come to "design a special questionnaire"..? What of Buddhism did you study, before concluding this to be a 'structured interview'? How or what did you appreciate of Buddhism, which made you believe this was a good set of questions to pose, both in content and wording?
What did you learnt or absorb about Buddhist practice, commitment and following before constructing these questions?
If you had studied Buddhism in any great depth, then perhaps you might have created a better mode of evincing responses.
As it is, I think it is clear from the replies you have received here, that however special or structured your 'interview' purports to be, you have tailored it with questions worded in such a way to which actually, there is little point in our replying.
I'm sorry you have not gleaned the information you might have liked.
Perhaps we can assist you in creating a better questionnaire, with more appropriate wording and questions...
I have tried to install open office before and never succeeded. I am on a mac.
Sounds about right to me, karasti
@Spiral_69 I have looked at your questionnaire and here are my answers - not sure if they help
1.) How would you feel if somebody close to you died?
sad
2.) How would you feel if you lost your job?
sad
3.) How would you feel if you got a nice present?
happy
4.) How would you feel if somebody talked bad about you behind your back?
unhappy
5.) How would you feel if you are sat at the bay and watched the vast ocean before you?
not sure - as it would depend on how I was feeling at the time...
6.) How would you feel if you thought about your own death?
I have thought a lot about death, and have come to terms with my own death
7.) How would you feel if you heard someone bragging about oneself?
like I normally do
8.) How would you feel if you read/heard about a natural disaster and its consequences?
sad, but I realise that that's life
9.) How would you feel if you thought about the future?
I have thought about the future, but I live in the ever present...
10.) How would you feel if you thought about your past?
I have thought about the past, but I live in the ever present...
Hope these answers are helpful, if not, I hope these responses answer your questions...
I downloaded it and will give it a shot when I get some down time at work tonight!
I'd love to help, but dealing with hypothetical emotional situations in any real detail is something I prefer not to do, as a rule. You might have better luck with multiple choice! Mindfulness teaches us not to dwell overly on negative thoughts and feelings, even hypothetical ones, so unless doing so would alleviate your suffering in some way, I am afraid I am not able to assist in this circumstance.
Hi Lovro,
Welcome, we look forward to studying with you. You already have given us a wonderful questionnaire which is of no interest to me either, not even if it helps you.
So sorry.
Hi again, everyone!
First, I'd like to thank you all that were so kind and already sent me their answers - I appreciate it!
And big thanks to all that will write something in the next days, too!
Thanks to those that posted some constructive comments and doubts, as well - you, too, are an important part of the story. I'd like to personally answer each one of you, but for the sake of "transparency", I'll post all the answers here, in a Q & A, or FAQ manner.
1. Why don't you create a better questionnaire, with different wording, with more respect to Buddhists?
The questionnaire is as it is, I won't change it, even though it could be better - well, it always could be better, right (as it always could be worse)?. I'm not giving it to Buddhists only, but also to non-Buddhists, so it wouldn't be a good idea if the phrasing was directly oriented to the Buddhist way of living only. The next point summarizes why questions must be the same for different groups - I agree it would be perfect to make a special questionnaire just for Buddhists, but then my methods wouldn't be generalizable and intersubjective.
2. How is this called a 'structured interview'?
The word 'structured' is here on purpose - it is widely used in a psychological terminology. Structured interview means that a researcher prepares a set of questions which are then given to different people, and even to different groups (like in my case, to Buddhists and to non-Buddhists). So, again - if somebody asks different people the same questions, it gives that person the opportunity to make some comparisons.
3. Why do you ask only about hypothetical situations?
Well, I have thought a lot about that. I saw that some people may have experienced some situations, but not the others - however, the same, repeating phrasing was the rule, so I decided to just "make" all of the situations hypothetical and leave the decision of how to describe them (whether hypothetical feelings or the experienced ones) to the participants. So far I have noticed that people have always written if some of these situations were already experienced.
4. Why are the situations so vague?
On purpose. "Since I might choose to imagine myself getting fired over a mistake, someone else might choose getting their position cut, that seems like it would make your results hard to compile?" - It won't be a problem, just describe whatever comes to your mind. The content itself isn't of such an importance, in the analysis I will pay more detail to some occuring patterns in the text.
5. Why not multiple choice questions?
Again, on purpose. Why have I written in the instructions "to write at least 5 sentences"? I'd like to get as much text as possible.
Thanks but at the moment I can hardly summon the energy to even switch my lap-top on.
I'm sure you know what you're doing, but I've had some experience in this area and written responses to questionnaires are notoriously difficult to work with, analyse and interpret, even with software.
I'd suggest that a quantitative approach here might be more successful than a qualitative one, both in terms of getting responses and in terms of analysing results.
Did you do a pilot on your questionnaire? Maybe you don't want to go back to the drawing board at this stage, but if you want credible results you might have to.
Thank you for your comment, but again - I decided for a qualitative research on purpose. My analysis will also be a qualitative one and when I'll use software, I can guarantee it will be ok
That is by no means what you stated here:
"I'm carrying out a phenomenological research on Buddhists' outlook on life. For this purpose I designed a special questionnare (actually, it's more of a structured interview)"...
The implication was quite definitely that you were carrying out research on Buddhists, and the implication was that it was aimed at only Buddhists.
Had you explained that this was a completely generic questionnaire, that might have engineered a more constructive approach.
What you may have forgotten is that Buddhists are unique in their religion in that every single other organised religion puts all their faith and dependence on a Deity, and omniscient and all-powerful 'God'.
Buddhism is entirely unique in that there is NO god, deity or omnisicient, omnipotent 'Head'.
Therefore, structuring questions for 'Buddhists and non-Buddhists' simply won't work.
As many here have tried to point out.
You said in your description above that you were researching "phenomenological research on Buddhists' outlook on life" but you said you are also asking the same of non-Buddhists. Since religious belief isn't one of the pieces of information you ask for, how are you going to separate Buddhist from non-Buddhist in the responses?
I used to design questionnaires for patient surveys, and data collection tools for paramedics, there's quite an art to it! It's essential to do trials and pilots to weed out the obvious design flaws.
And of course the design also has to provide meaningful information for analysis.
@Spiral_69 may one venture to ask how old you are....?
My understanding is that usually this type of research includes sharing the experience that you are talking about, ie "my point of view about the death of a loved one involves me considering the death of my spouse/child/parent (or whatever)" It is not possible, for me anyhow, to tell you the depth of how I might feel or react without a specific situation to address. But no where in your instructions am I asked to share the experience that I am reviewing. It is usually more specific and usually involves actual interviews with rapport between the subject and the researcher where follow up questions are addressed, along with assuring that the people being interviewed actually experienced what you are trying to assess. That is just in my limited experience, of course, I'm sure there are differences in exact ways to accomplish it.
If you are looking to compare patterns of how Buddhists and others think about particular life situations, it seems like it would be difficult to do so without us identifying as Buddhists (or not). If that is not the case, then why did you present it to us as the Buddhist outlook on various life situations?
I know part of the idea is not to reveal what you are looking for out of your research so as not to skew what we reveal. I get that. I just don't understand why you are asking for out Buddhist take on things without us identifying that we are Buddhist, unless you are expecting us to put that into the questions. And with the vague questions you are mostly going to get responses like "I imagine I'd be sad" because without a situation to go on that's about as much as I can muster, lol.
You're right. I tried to edit my discussion entry, but due to the settings it was already too late. But now, after I explained more, you know what is it about
I haven't forgotten about that. I don't even see why that would be of particular importance for my study.
Don't doubt in me so much
I just asked for help with filling out certain questionnaire, which is, yeah, a bit longer as you saw ... If it was a standard "click and tick" type of psychological questionnaires that can be done with in 2 minutes, you'll all be all over it.
Since it actually needs some focus and time to venture in the inner worlds, most of you rather try to "save the day" on the internet and loose yourselves in the outer world of form. Blessed those that don't ask too much and help a soul in need!
Why would you need to know that? Would it help to judge me?
You don't need that information to talk to me. And if you really really desire it, it's available - few clicks away, since I told you my real name.
Because if you are asking questions of other religions, then the focus of their responses is going to be diametrically opposite to our focus. Which is why it is important for you to differentiate. It's also more respectful.
It's not a question of doubting you. And if that's what you believe, you have understood nothing. It's a matter of phrasing your questions to suit your audience.
You wouldn't ask a roomful of merchant seamen to outline their experiences on the 'Terra Firma' battlefield, would you?
We'd help you if you asked the right questions. We've tried to point out to you, that you haven't.
Which leads me to believe you are quite young, and presumptuous.
I am inno way attempting or insinuating a judgement.
But if you are a university student, it helps to know your age-bracket in order o understand at what level your eduction stands.
I am aware of that. Instructions are scarce, too, I agree. But like you acknowledged later, there is a purpose for that as well. You can share the experience that you are reviewing - or not. It's up to you.
You are right and I'd looove to do that. Perhaps one day, for a research of a greater degree. Right now I'm carrying out a smaller study and, sadly, don't have resources to realize actual interviews - so, doing it via internet (and realizing all the limitations of doing that!) is the best approximation I can get currently.
Still fail to see where do you find such lack of respect. If it's in my introduction at the beginning, I apologize for not expressing myself well. Since you're moderator, you can maybe help me phrase the introduction part, so others won't be turned off by it when "entering" the discussion.
And with that you helped me how exactly? The questionnaire is as it is - it has its own purpose and intention. If you think the questions aren't right, have that opinion and go on, don't bother yourself with it.
I completed it and sent it back. I hope you enjoy your research experience, you should let us know (if possible) where we can view the results when you are all done. Best of luck in your schooling!
Yes, but that's the point, you need a decent sample size in any survey, and the more responses you get the more valid the conclusions. So questionnaires do need to be as user-friendly as possible, even if that means limiting the data set.
Anyway, good luck, and hopefully you will come up with something interesting. Feedback can be uncomfortable in these situations but it's good to be able to take it on board.
Thank you for your support! I love how you put it: research experience. Yes, it's but a tiny stone in my long path of research.
I'm currently aiming at N(sample) = 50. Look, all I tried to do was find a balance
If I did multiple choice questions, that would be fast and I'd get a lot of answers very quickly - however, I wouldn't get much information. If I decided for live interviews, I would get an enormous amount of richest information possible - but that would take me months, maybe even years (as you saw, I'm in a middle of my studies, and, it is what it is - some things just need to be done quicker). So, let's say I caught a balance - I'm asking people online, but the answers I get carry a lot of information.
Thank you also for your comments
Fellow NB peeps, do a little bit of quick research yourself into what is the goal of the specific type of research he is doing and it might make more sense why he is not after just quick responses. It made more sense to me, anyhow, and helped me understand why the questions are framed how they are.
He needn't be so rude and patronising about it.
Such is the arrogance of youth.
Good luck.
I personally don't find it rude, I took it as him trying to stay vague in his answers because him answering certain ways can sway how people answer the questions. It's hard to maintain that when trying to answer questions online, I think. Part of that type of research is not giving information into what you are looking for, but letting the experience of the question take the person wherever their stream of consciousness is going to go.
Those types of questions are hard for me, because I am an extremely structured, routine person. I like things in 1+1=2 order, logical-like. I have a very hard time with abstract concepts, so once I understood there were no expected "rules" it was easier to answer the questions honestly. Initially, I felt he was looking for something and not explaining it well, and that was not the case.
Wow, thanks for such a nice words!
What can I say? You'd be done with the answers by now ...
THAT!
Faith in newbuddhist.com restored! 
Sure, what you are trying to do is not easy, and I think you will learn a lot from doing it. It's partly trial and error, learning from experience. Research is both an art and a science, and it's very hands on, not easily taught.
In an effort to assist only: Without omniscience, this would be impossible to know. For instance, looking at anataman's responses. He said he would be sad if he lost a job. He may have lost a job before and simply not told you.
I am not doubting you but I do have concerns about participating. Not because I do not want to help, but because I am concerned that my answers will not be helpful. Take question one:
1.) How would you feel if somebody close to you died?
I was a Buddhist forty years ago when I had never lost anyone close to me. I was also a Buddhist thirty years ago when my very best friend in the world was tortured to death and I got to listen to his dying screams.
My response will represent Buddhist thinking/feeling and yet - what I would of imagined the answer to be forty years ago is not even close to what I felt thirty years ago....and my relationship with death has changed so significantly over the last thirty years as to make the answer seem like it was given by a completely different person.
Which answer is the truth?
The truth was still present at the time of your experience. Just because you have changed doesn't mean that what was true for your experience 30 years ago is now false.
@karasti - of course, but it is a snapshot of a dynamic and evolving view. Like driving across the United States, taking a random snapshot out the window of the moving car at some random point and saying, "This is what America looks like."
You decide what is truth for you. Write anything that you want, don't restrict yourself and especially - don't think too much what is good to write or what is not. Really, just follow your stream of consciousness and try to convey into words what's inside
Then show me the dynamic and evolving view if you can, show me your "whole America", if you know what I mean.
Too bad I can't edit the introduction anymore
It would be so great, especially after all this feedback!!!
Nevertheless, I already mentioned phenomenological research
Well, for all who are still questioning what am I actually doing ... a quick copy-paste from one university homesite*:
Research Method:
The goal of qualitative phenomenological research is to describe a "lived experience" of a phenomenon. As this is a qualitative analysis of narrative data, methods to analyze its data must be quite different from more traditional or quantitative methods of research.
Data collection:
Any way the participant can describe their lived phenomenal experience can be used to gather data in a phenomenological study. You can use an interview to gather the participants' descriptions of their experience, or the participants' written or oral self-report, or even their aesthetic expressions (e.g. art, narratives, or poetry).
Try to be as non-directive as possible in your instructions. Unlike a survey or questionnaire, in a phenomenological study you would ask participants to describe their experience of, for example, "riding on a BC Ferry", without directing or suggesting their description in any way. However, do encourage your participant to give a full description of their experience, including their thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, memories - their stream of consciousness - along with a description of the situation in which the experience occurred.
*source: https://www.capilanou.ca/psychology/student-resources/research-guidelines/Phenomenological-Research-Guidelines/
You have really gone in at the deep end here! I started out with quantitative then introduced some qualitative content later on.
What is the aim of your research?
It's more of an exploratory one - I move in a pretty undiscovered field, somewhere between existentialism, world-view studies, and religious studies. The art really is to look at things which may not lend themselves to comparison prima facie.
Sounds interesting, but also very challenging!
I agree! So far the most challenging part is to get people to describe their experience
Well, yes! Mind you quantitative methods can be quite challenging too. When I worked for the ambulance services I had to extract data from the ambulance control room database using complicated SQL queries. I'd done a bit of this at university but it was a steep learning curve. I found that spreadsheets were best for analysis, but even then you had to develop some complicated queries to join datasets. Bit of a nightmare really. I wrote technical reports but they had to be for a general audience, another challenge. Funnily enough the most useful figure for public consumption was usually a simple average.
I also got some experience with the black art of trend analysis.
@spiral69 -- One of the things that PRACTICING Buddhists learn pretty quickly is that describing experience never really describes experience because the description itself creates a separation from the experience which the experience-r cannot be separated from.
The intellect may sweat and strain to nail down or pigeon-hole experience because the intellect thinks highly of itself. This may be fun and put diplomas on the wall, but it is also a fool's errand in any real terms.
Here is a small, true story about a woman who ran head-long into this wall:
Once upon a time, after a seven-day sesshin or Zen Buddhist retreat, I was walking home in New York City with a woman who had likewise come from the sesshin. After seven days of silent meditation, we were full of chatter about this and that. And as we were chatting, suddenly she broke down in tears.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"There's no one to thank!" she almost wailed.
"OK," I said, "thank me."
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," I replied.
And we walked home.
@Spiral_69 how much detail do you want? For example I could say a person close to me dying would make me sad. Or I could talk more in detail how I would expect that process to be.
Can I message you here and you cut and paste to a word doc?