In modern research, there is a wide range of scales and questionnaires of dreams. Dream diaries and written reports on the content of dreams remain basic tools for scientists. Subjectivity becomes a fundamental problem in this case: only the dreamer can tell and evaluate what they dreamed.
Austrian researchers Ableidinger, Klösch, and Holzinger described the advantages and disadvantages of popular questionnaires and created their own questionnaire – Dreamland. Its first version was developed in 1997. It required a tool covering all aspects of dreams, and it was quick to fill out and easy to analyze. Participants must answer questions in the morning to evaluate the dream they had the previous night. The list has three parts: the last one includes the topic of lucid dreams (LDs).
The questionnaire divides points about one’s awareness that they were dreaming and their ability to control the scenario, which the authors consider extremely important. They point out that control is rare: only 37% of cases involved control. At the same time, there are disputes about what should be considered an LD. For example, is a slight feeling that “something is wrong” an LD or not?
The questionnaire is very quick to fill out, as it contains only 14 points. Two questions are devoted to LDs:
1. While dreaming, were you aware that you were dreaming? (Answer options: “yes,” “no,” and “I don’t know.”)
2. Could you influence the dream according to your decisions? (The options are the same as in the above question.)
What questions would you add to get maximum and objective information from lucid dreamers?
The article was published in August 2023 in Somnologie.
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