NCJ Number
189285
Journal
Psychology, Crime & Law Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: 2000 Pages: 81-97
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study explored the influence of question type and interviewer style on the quantity and quality of responses offered by children in interviews for suspected sexual abuse.
Abstract
Analysis covered 36 investigative interviews conducted by police officers with children aged 4-7, 8-11, and 12-14 years. The dependent measures were the temporal length of children's answers and the number of criteria derived from Criteria Based Content Analysis (CBCA) they contained. Only 2 percent of all questions were open-ended, but just 3 percent were judged leading. Open questions were most effective with 12-14-year-olds but not with younger children, who provided more information in response to specific yet not leading or closed questions. Larger answers containing more CBCA criteria were associated with interviews containing many affirmative utterances and oral affirmations and a brief rapport. The study concludes that a single-minded emphasis upon the value of open questions was insufficient in itself to produce an effective interview, and developmental factors needed to be taken into account. Officers who did not indulge in extended rapport and used many confirmatory comments and oral affirmations elicited the longest and most evidentially rich accounts from the children they interviewed. Tables, references, appendix