Writing Belief as an Observer

I am currently working on a book chapter which is on the topic of paranormal studies. I am collecting some information about scientific studies in the area and summarising the findings for a frankly unsympathetic audeince (typical biologists).

I got on board a co-writer who is, to some extent, a believer. So now I am trying to develop a corrcet tone summarsing the data with sympathy for the original researcher's beliefs, providing information for an unsympathetic audience as a non-believer myself. Aargh.

Add to that the typical comment from my own colleagues is along the lines of 'most people only write about that sort of topic *after* they get tenure.'

Any tips on how to hit the write tones without opening with somthing Seinfeldian like 'I do not beluieve in the paranormal, not that there's anything wrong with that.'

?

Thyanks fortrying to make sense of me

1. You're writing a book chapter about the paranormal in a book that's NOT about the paranormal (so, I presume a non-fiction scientific type book?)

Yes, the book is about animal behavior, with a scietific tine and for a science/academic publisher.

2. You're picking up the pieces of someone else's research who wrote his notes in a biased fashion so that any potential of a REAL paranormal event is discarded in favor of his views that such things can't exist?

I am reporting reputable research from people who can be presumed to be honest and have a science education--although ofthen the data and methods are not reported in enough detail to allow full replication/analysis. The researchers identify as parapsychologists and explicity do believe in pscychi abilities.

3. You, yourself, ALSO don't believe, but you're trying to present the material in a neutral "make of this what you will" manner by presenting both sides?

I don't believe in psy--but I do find the studies (largely experimental) to be interesting and indicative of sensitivties in animals that are not properly understood or appreciated. And it bugs me that non-believers do nt read these reports because the results are intiguing regardless of what you beleve.

b) How to write the chapter so it doesn't appear biased.

I am trying to the the chapter 'to' a non-believing audience without condescending to believing readers or end up looking like a crank. I do want to acknowledge my own position as a non-beliver who doesn't ignore experimental data because I don't like the fully qualified and honest researcher's beliefs. (If paranormal researchers were routinely dishonest they would, frankly, get better results)

If b) you'd probably be best writing the chapter and then having someone who DOES believe in the paranormal, or at least is genuinely skeptical about it (meaning he/she doesn't have bias either way) reader it over to be certain you've offered both sides of the argument.

I did recruit a believer co-writer although it is hard to communicate with her as we are on different continents. But I feel she is pulling the text to far to assuming psi does exits, when the typical reader will assume it does not or be used to not seeing it as a matter for science to address. But I worry that pulling to hard the other way will be disrespectful tot he research's original nature.

What I want to say is something like, hell, look, these are honest experiments. If there is no psi how would you explain the results, do you learn anything by this exercise--right, then shouldn't you read more outside the box from time to time? the experiments we do tend to confimr our believes, the experiments 'others' do tend to challenge and test them. To some extent the latter is better science.

Even just typing about this is helping clear it up in my head.

I mean the typical reader I identified for my book when it was proposed, a specific audience the book will be marketed to. They are largely my colleagues and students in my sub-discipline who I know do not take psi seriously, at least in public--in fact they openly mock it if the subject comes up. Although some of the students will tend to admit some divergent personal beliefs when the other profs are away they do so with a degree of embarrassment that suggests belief is not an acceptted norm.

And the experiemnts I am reading are conducted largely by the programs you identify or the historical work they frequently cite -- so I imagine they consider them reputable.

I'm obviously not explaining myself very well. The science is good and I understand it. I just don't know how to pitch it, what the best angle would be especially re: communicating my own lack of belief to help get the ideas across to a non-believing audience without disrespecting the belief itself or my coauthor.

My personal reasons for stating my belief (one issue I am certainly not comfortable with) would be in the hopes of eventually getting tenure (almost no Dean will hire the psychic animal freaky woman to teach their undergrads, or at the very least it will narrow my already slender options) and to get initial credibility with the audience as 'one of them'. Otherwise I suspect I will have most of them skipping to the next chapter within a paragraph (that being the whole problem, they won;t read this sort of material and they should)... IMHO....