 |
|
Child witnesses -- how to improve their performance
September 17, 2008Study examines the ability of both children and young adults to identify faces with different racial features
A study at the University of Leicester into how to improve child and young adult witnesses' evidence has looked at several issues that affect witnesses' accuracy.
The investigation, carried out in Estonia by postgraduate psychologist Kristjan Kask, looked at issues such as police officers' interviewing methods with children; young adults' skill in describing people; and the ability of both children and young adults to identify faces with different racial features.
Dr Kask looked at the real-life interview protocols conducted by Estonian police officers. He found that open-ended questions, such as 'Tell me more of what happened', resulted in more significant information that could help prove or disprove a culprit guilty. Closed questions, such as: 'Did he wear a brown jacket?' proved less effective.
However, obtaining this information presented problems of its own, as Dr Kask explained: "Conducting eyewitness research involving children is a very challenging task.
"It was difficult at times to get access to relevant organizations such as police forces. For example, when I collected the data from one department then only transcripts conducted by officers not working there any more were provided."
It is known that witnesses, especially young witnesses, can recognise people more easily than they can describe them. Dr Kask's study looked at whether young adults can use a 'standard` as an aid to help them provide more accurate information about a person they may only have seen once.
This involves comparing the memory about the 'target' with the interviewer, for instance: 'Compared to me how tall was he?' However, this was found to have no effect in improving witnesses' descriptions.
A great deal of forensic psychology research has examined the recognition of people of different ethnic groups using lineups in police settings. From this, psychologists have found that people recognise faces with their own ethnic characteristics more accurately than those of other ethnic groups.
What is less clear is how faces of different ethnic origin are recognized when they are presented together in large numbers. For instance border guards or immigration officers may see a large number of people during the day and have to decide whether some of them might be in the 'wanted` list.
Dr Kask showed young Estonian adults several 'target' faces of different ethnicities followed by a larger group of faces. They had to decide for each face whether it was one of the faces they had seen earlier.
He found that the young people taking part in his study could recognise the 'target' faces from different ethnicities equally well. However, they found it harder to reject faces that were of a different ethnic group from their own.
Dr Kask concluded: "When a multi-perpetrator crime takes place, then identifying the real culprits can be problematic and will depend on different aspects of face recognition, such as own- or other-ethnicity targets; target presence or absence in the recognition set; and/or the location of lineup fillers and target(s) in the lineup."
University of Leicester
Dr Kask looked at the real-life interview protocols conducted by Estonian police officers. He found that open-ended questions, such as 'Tell me more of what happened', resulted in more significant information that could help prove or disprove a culprit guilty. Closed questions, such as: 'Did he wear a brown jacket?' proved less effective.
However, obtaining this information presented problems of its own, as Dr Kask explained: "Conducting eyewitness research involving children is a very challenging task.
"It was difficult at times to get access to relevant organizations such as police forces. For example, when I collected the data from one department then only transcripts conducted by officers not working there any more were provided."
It is known that witnesses, especially young witnesses, can recognise people more easily than they can describe them. Dr Kask's study looked at whether young adults can use a 'standard` as an aid to help them provide more accurate information about a person they may only have seen once.
This involves comparing the memory about the 'target' with the interviewer, for instance: 'Compared to me how tall was he?' However, this was found to have no effect in improving witnesses' descriptions.
A great deal of forensic psychology research has examined the recognition of people of different ethnic groups using lineups in police settings. From this, psychologists have found that people recognise faces with their own ethnic characteristics more accurately than those of other ethnic groups.
What is less clear is how faces of different ethnic origin are recognized when they are presented together in large numbers. For instance border guards or immigration officers may see a large number of people during the day and have to decide whether some of them might be in the 'wanted` list.
Dr Kask showed young Estonian adults several 'target' faces of different ethnicities followed by a larger group of faces. They had to decide for each face whether it was one of the faces they had seen earlier.
He found that the young people taking part in his study could recognise the 'target' faces from different ethnicities equally well. However, they found it harder to reject faces that were of a different ethnic group from their own.
Dr Kask concluded: "When a multi-perpetrator crime takes place, then identifying the real culprits can be problematic and will depend on different aspects of face recognition, such as own- or other-ethnicity targets; target presence or absence in the recognition set; and/or the location of lineup fillers and target(s) in the lineup."
University of Leicester
More Interviewing Methods Current Events and Interviewing Methods News Articles
 | Patient-Centered Interviewing: An Evidence-Based Method by Robert C Smith Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Provides a step-by-step method for patient-centered interviewing. Integrates patient-centered interviewing with traditional doctor-centered interviewing. In addition, the text addresses clinical communication issues, patient education, and describes how to write up evaluations. Previous edition: c1996.... |
 | Clinical Interviewing by John Sommers-Flanagan, Rita Sommers-Flanagan The Fourth Edition of the classic Clinical Interviewing by John and Rita Sommers-Flanagan reflects current research in the field as well as an important expansion of multicultural content throughout. Fully revised, this invaluable text will help you sharpen your counseling skills with thoughtful insight into critical interviewing techniques that will result in more effective and compassionate... |
 | Qualitative Research Interviewing: Biographic Narrative and Semi-Structured Methods by Tom Wengraf Qualitative Research Interviewing is unique in its conceptual coherence and the level of practical detail that it offers to the beginning social researcher. It provides a comprehensive resource for those concerned with the practice of semi-structured interviewing, the most commonly used interview approach in social research, and in particular for depth, biographic narrative interviewing, the... |
 | Case* Method: Business Interviewing (Case Method) by Hickman An indispensable guide to successful information gathering, this book focuses on the techniques of how to interview, giving the reader more time to concentrate on what is actually being said. As a tool for personal skill development or as a training aid, this text serves as an easy-to-use reference on all aspects of business... |
 | Interviewing: Its Principle and Methods by Annette Garrett |
| Interviewing methods for genealogists: A lecture demonstration (An occasional paper of the Fort Worth Genealogical Society) by Rosanna T Herndon | |
 | Garrett's Interviewing: Its Principles and Methods by Annette Marie Garrett, Susan Donner, Phebe Sessions |
| Interviewing Methods for Enrolling, Guiding and Retaining Students: For Counselors, Guidance Personnel, Financial Aid Officers, and Admission Counse by Thomas J. Audley, Dorlac Charles F. | |
| Interviewing: Its Principles and Methods Fourth... | |
 | Evaluating a method of assessing competence in Motivational Interviewing: A study using simulated patients in the United Kingdom [An article from: Addictive Behaviors] by G.A. Bennett, H.A. Roberts, T.E. Vaughan, Gibbins This digital document is a journal article from Addictive Behaviors, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: In this evaluation of a method of assessing competence in Motivational Interviewing (MI), participants were asked to interview an... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |