NCJ Number
246962
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Dated: 2014 Pages: 38-49
Date Published
2014
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This is a letter to the editor by James A. Matte in response to an article by Barry Cushman entitled "Is Matte's Inside Track the Answer to False Positives, False Negatives and Countermeasures? There is Reason to Fear that Hope is Gone" ("Polygraph," Volume 42, Number 3, 2013).
Abstract
Cushman asserted in his article that the Inside Track, which contains the Fear of Error control question and the Hope of Error relevant questions used in the Matte Quadri-Track Zone Comparison Technique (MQTZCT) "does not offer the benefits its developer asserts and the extreme accuracy previously reported is likely due to methodological flaws and unsound reasoning." In responding to this assertion, Matte explains "some, but not all" of the differences between the MQTZCT and other polygraph techniques that Matte argues Cushman ignores in his claim that "the MQTZCT is just another ZCT, and as such, we should not expect accuracy any better (or worse) than any other validated single issue ZCT." Matte then argues that Cushman uses this erroneous assumption to justify the conclusions of the American Polygraph Association's Mega-Analytic Survey and declares Matte's published Critique of the Meta-Analytic Survey (Matte, 2012) to be without merit. Matte concludes that the errors, omissions, and bias that permeate the Meta-Analysis Survey mirrors Cushman's article and his last statement. Matte concludes his response to Cushman with a brief presentation of a recent test, in which Matte trained a polygraph examiner in the use of the MQTZCT, who subsequently achieved high scores that far exceeded the score threshold (-15 and +9). 35 references