The most recent version of the NDERF survey (nderf.org) was open for accrual from November 11, 2011 to April 8, 2021. During this time NDERF received 834 sequentially shared NDEs that met all of the following criteria:
Experiences were scored as NDEs if they met all of the following:
1. A lucid, organized experience occurring at the time of a life-threatening event so severe that there is unconsciousness or clinically apparent death with an absent heartbeat.
2. An NDE Scale score of 7 or higher.
3. Shared by the individual who personally had the NDE.
4. Shared in English via the completed survey form on nderf.org.
All experiences were scored as NDEs if they met the above criteria and regardless of experience content to avoid bias in studying the content of the NDEs.
The version of the NDERF survey that was used immediately prior to the most current version was open for accrual from September 13, 2004 to September 9, 2011. During this time NDERF received 1122 sequentially shared NDEs that met all of the above 4 criteria.
Chi-square statistics are commonly used in the NDERF research. To calculate this, the standard formula in Excel is used which automatically calculates the value from the chi-squared distribution using the appropriate degrees of freedom.
About 98% of all near-death experiencers (NDErs) allowed their NDEs to be posted on NDERF anonymously. Thus the NDEs posted on NDERF accurately reflect all NDEs shared with NDERF whether they are posted on NDERF or not. If the NDErs are personally identifiable on NDERF, they gave us explicit advance permission to be identified. In completing the NDERF survey form, NDErs give us permission to use what they shared in studies. For the NDERF studies, all NDEs are included for statistical analysis regardless of whether they gave permission to post their NDEs.
The NDEs posted on the NDERF website are edited only to correct obvious spelling and grammar errors. As remarkable as the NDEs are in this list, please remember that they accurately represent the real experiences of near-death experiencers (NDErs) from all walks of life and around the world.