Background
Meditation is currently extremely popular in the media and in research. It can be practiced for all kinds of different reasons. Originally, meditation was taught to connect to the spiritual and achieve liberation. More recently, meditation has become more mainstream and is often used for more secular reasons such as improving well-being and reducing stress. Hundreds of scientific studies demonstrate the remarkably positive effects of meditation.
However, most of these studies were conducted in Western, industrialized societies of the Global North. They were also often limited to certain groups of meditators and certain meditation practices. Finally, they often did not take into account that people vary in their individual characteristics and motivation and respond quite differently to meditation.
Aims of this Study
This is why we conduct the present study. We want to give voice to all types of meditators throughout the world and be as inclusive as possible. Our team of dedicated researchers works in seven different countries on four continents and translated the survey into nine different languages. We strongly believe in international and interdisciplinary collaboration and built this research by complementing and enriching each other’s perspectives. Learn more about the team.
The aim of this study is to examine meditation practice, motivation and individual characteristics of meditators in different traditional and cultural contexts. We want to know more about why certain people choose certain meditation traditions and practices. We further want to explore how these aspects develop and change over the course of several months.
Participation
As part of this study, we will ask you to complete a questionnaire on several occasions. First when you register and then again after 6 and 12 months. The questionnaire consists of two parts. Each part takes about 15-20 minutes to complete, the whole questionnaire takes about 30-45 minutes. During the survey, you can decide whether you wish to complete both parts.
As a thank you, you can receive a personal evaluation of various dimensions of your personality at the end of the three surveys. Moreover, we are giving away 60 vouchers worth €100, which you can redeem personally or donate to your meditation community.
If you want to be part of this exciting research, please register now to participate in our study:
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.
This project has human research ethics approval from The University of Melbourne HREC #31492.
Study Management
Contemplative Studies Centre
University of Melbourne
karin.matko[at]unimelb.edu.au
