The factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ): reply to Barrett & Griffiths (2016)
Authors:
José Carlos Bouso, Eduardo José Pedrero‐Pérez, Sam Gandy, and Miguel Ángel Alcázar‐Córcoles.
Journal:
Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental
Year:
2017
About the study
This letter to the editor, published in Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental vol. 32, is a reply to the commentary by Barret and Griffiths (2016) regarding our Spanish version of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (Bouso, Pedrero‐Pérez, Gandy, and Alcázar‐Córcoles, 2016).
In the article, we emphasize that in no parts of our manuscript did we state that our version is “more appropriate” than the English version. Besides, in all parts of the study referring to the three different rating scales analyzed, we viewed the MEQ as the most psychometrically solid, and the one that can offer the best guarantees of appropriate and reliable use.
We are in agreement with Barrett and Griffiths when they assert that further studies are needed to better characterize the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, and this is something that we also assert throughout our manuscript, stating that our version was just a preliminary proposal.
Excerpt: Mystical Experience Questionnaire
“On the contrary, what is needed is a questionnaire whose factorial structure does not vary when it is administered in different settings and with different psychedelic drugs and doses, varying only on its score. To follow that goal was the purpose of our work and, in that way, we offered in our paper a Spanish version of the MEQ, with preliminary psychometric properties obtained from a Spanish sample after taking ayahuasca. We do not encourage nor discourage the eventual reader to use our version but merely offer our psychometric analysis, describing how we reached our data, comparing our analysis to the methods used by other researchers, while discussing the limitations both of our study and of previous English versions in order that the eventual reader can have more data and information regarding how to use and interpret it.”
Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash.
Categories:
Studies & papers
, Ayahuasca
Tags:
ayahuasca
, scientific research
, study
, psychometrics