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Dear Fellow BASE jumper
My name Is Omer Mei-Dan, I am long time Base Jumper and a Medical doctor in the field of Orthopedic and sports surgery.
In collaboration with a friend, Dr. Erik Monasterio (from Bolivia/ New Zealand and an experienced, semi professional mountaineer and rock climber), we are proposing to conduct a research on a population of Base Jumpers (BJ). Erik who specializes in Forensic Psychiatry, is used to working with "risk-taking" populations and has published a number of research papers on the subject. He has recently published the first systematic study of a group of climbers. This study examined the "personality styles" of risk-taking climbers and also looked at how often they had accidents and what the death rate was (over a 4 year period).
As there are no scientific studies of BJs, we believe that it would be very interesting to conduct a study on this unique population. The study would use validated, standardized personality assessment questionnaires. The information on personality characteristics of BJs will help us understand what it is that motivates BJs to participate in such a unique and extremely dangerous sport. I am sure that there are unique characteristics which motivate us and that we don't fully understand. This study will help to shed some light on those facts. It will also give us information on the frequency and severity of accidents. The study participants must volunteer to take part and they will remain anonymous. In recognition of the volunteer's participation we will forward the result findings to all participants, with an explanation of our conclusions.
We would appreciate your cooperation by completing the attached files including the intro letter and the two questionnaires and by contacting and recruiting as many Base jumping friends as possible. The questionnaires can be answered in about 20 mins and sent back via Email. All data is to stay anonymous and will be statistically evaluated by Dr. Monasterio, in NZ.
If the community of BJs dedicate a few minutes to this important study we would be provided with valuable information that will help us understand ourselves a lot better.
If you are a BASE jumper, past or present, and willing to spend a few minutes and participate in that research, please contact us via mail and we will be happy to send you the required files.
Thank you very much for your time
Omer
