Statement of Aims

The New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (inc.)

To investigate claims and events of an apparently paranormal nature scientifically and with an open mind.
To report the results of these investigations and where possible to provide rational, scientific explanations.
To provide reliable information about paranormal claims.
To encourage a more critical attitude to pseudoscience and to bogus paranormal claims, and to alert people to the dangers of uncritical acceptance of such claims.
To increase public awareness of the difference between legitimate science and pseudoscience.
To investigate the psychological, social, and ideological factors behind belief in the paranormal.

The aims will be pursued by:

Establishing a network of people interested in critically examining claims of the paranormal.
Publishing a newsletter and distributing informational material.
Publishing articles, monographs, and books that examine claims of the paranormal.
Encouraging and commissioning research by objective and impartial enquiries.
Conducting meetings, seminars, and conferences.
Making available informed members to the media and interested groups.
Setting up controlled tests and investigations of paranormal claims.
Encouraging informed and critical enquiry into paranormal claims by the press and broadcast media.

The Skeptical attitude means:

Seeking all relevant factual evidence concerning an event, claim, or theory.
Keeping an open mind until a satisfactory explanation is found, and not rejecting a priori any paranormal claim without enquiry.
Maintaining a position of uncertainty when there is insufficient or ambiguous evidence; recognising that having no explanation at present is preferable to jumping to false conclusions.
Avoiding cynicism, as this is not in the spirit of open-minded enquiry.
Seeking scientifically, where possible, a normal explanation of any claimed paranormal event.