Abstract

Developed a survey design that utilizes multivariate methods and a bipolar model to contrast the survival vs the destruction hypothesis. The usefulness of this design was demonstrated in transcultural surveys conducted in the US and India by the author and E. Haraldsson (1977). The expansion of this model could include death contrary to physicians' prognoses and patients' expectations, the disengagement hypothesis (loss of sensations of severe pain, deteriorated personalities becoming their normal selves at the end), out-of-body experiences, and R. Noyes's (1972) depersonalization hypothesis. Methods for increasing the accuracy and richness of information and for the reduction of patients', observers', and researchers' biases, are also suggested. (20 ref)