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This article presents a reflection on what the qualitative interview method conducted with students can provide to (mathematics) education research in terms of in-depth knowledge and what critical methodological points should be taken into consideration. Repeated interviews with the same students in relation to research quality is considered. The argument is that repeated interviews can provide in-depth knowledge and a grasp of students' understandings. Critical points to consider when gaining in-depth knowledge are person-dependency, process ethics, connections between repeated interviews as a method and the aim, and the re-interview effect. These are important to discuss and reflect on throughout the research process, as they can function as quality criteria when producing in-depth knowledge in qualitative research with repeated interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK and some US states, video-recorded investigative interviews of child victims/witnesses can be presented in court as the child's evidence-in-chief. However, there is scarce advice or research on the effect that presenting different sections of the interviews may have on juror perceptions of the child's testimony. Two aspects of testimony presentation are examined here: first, whether to show the rapport-building phase of the interview, and second, the presentation of multiple interviews (i.e. more than one interview with the same child). Participants (n = 103) informed they were watching two interviews of the same child separated by a week had more positive perceptions of the child's testimony than those informed they were watching just one extended interview with a ten-minute break. Also, those watching the rapport-building phase had less positive perceptions of the child's testimony than those who did not watch this phase. Participants' perceptions of the interviewer and their case progression decisions were mainly not related to the above presentational differences. Thus, (i) mock-jurors were not inherently biased against multiple interviews and (ii) decisions regarding whether or not to show the rapport-building phase in court may have significant effects on jurors' perceptions of the child and their testimony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on investigative interviewing has only recently started to compare the efficacy of different techniques for gathering intelligence from human sources. So far the research has focused exclusively on sources interviewed once, thus overlooking that most sources are interviewed multiple times. The present study attempts to remedy this gap in the literature. Students (N = 66) took on the role of semi-cooperative sources, holding incomplete information about an upcoming terrorist attack. The sources were informed that they would be interviewed at least once, and that additional interviews might follow. Half of the sources were interviewed on three occasions with the Scharff technique (consisting of five tactics), and the other half was interviewed on three occasions using the so-called direct approach (i.e. open-ended and specific questions). Collapsing the outcome over the three interviews, the Scharff technique resulted in significantly more new information compared to the direct approach. Furthermore, sources interviewed by the direct approach overestimated how much new information they had revealed, whereas the sources interviewed by the Scharff technique underestimated their contribution (although not significantly so). The current study advances previous research by further contextualizing the tests of the efficacy of human intelligence gathering techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Past work shows that direct negative feedback and suggestive questioning can lead eyewitnesses to change their memory reports. Applying Gudjonsson’s [2003.The psychology of interrogations and confessions: A handbook. West Sussex: Wiley] model of interrogative suggestibility to interviews with witnesses, the present two experiments examined how indirect negative feedback delivered in a supportive manner from an interviewer can make witnesses change what they report they remember experiencing. After viewing a video of a crime, participants were interviewed twice, with either supportive negative feedback (i.e. with the interviewer sympathetically suggesting why many people’s memory may be inaccurate) or neutral feedback between the two rounds of questions. Results showed that people given supportive negative feedback changed significantly more of their responses than those given neutral feedback. Lower confidence ratings were associated with greater response change, but overall, despite having changed more responses, people given supportive negative feedback did not have reduced confidence or perceived accuracy. Type of feedback did not impact accuracy, and accuracy was not systematically related to confidence or perceived accuracy. Given the role that eyewitness reports play in the criminal justice system, better understanding factors that impact consistency and reliability is vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between-statement consistency is regarded as an important cue to deceit. However, research indicates that liars can be as consistent as truth tellers. The consistency of statements of intent in two mock security settings was examined. Truth tellers spoke honestly of their intentions. Liars provided a cover story to mask their criminal intentions. Participants (N = 60) were interviewed three times, and their statements were coded for repetitions, omissions, and commissions. The similarities between truth tellers and liars on all three measures of consistency were striking. These findings highlight consistency as a pernicious cue to deceit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For both legal and clinical purposes, it is of importance to study children's memories and reports of stressful events. The present study investigated the reporting patterns of 83 children who had witnessed homicidal violence, which is considered to be a highly stressful experience. More specifically, we explored the possible effects of prior violence exposure and of repeated questioning on the amount of details reported. Results showed that the majority of children provided detailed reports about the homicidal violence they had witnessed, including details concerning what happened before, during, and after the violent act. The children provided detailed and vivid testimonies from their experiences, whether they witnessed the event for the first time or had prior experience of witnessing severe violence against the victim by the perpetrator. Children with no prior experience of repeated violence who underwent repeated interviews provided more details than those interviewed once. The present data indicate that children are competent witnesses when questioned in legal contexts after having been exposed to extremely stressful events. These findings have implications for research related to children's memories and reporting of traumatic experiences, as well as practical implications for future treatment and evaluation of children's testimonies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study we asked participants to mentally travel back to the future. The participants were asked to remember and report on a mental image of the near future. We predicted that participants who, during an interview, told the truth about their intentions would differ in their descriptions of their mental images compared to participants who lied about their future intentions. We found partial support for this overarching assumption. More specifically, we found that more truth tellers than liars reported to have had a mental image activated during the planning of their intentions. We also showed that liars (vs. truth tellers) found the question on the mental image more difficult to answer. However, they did not differ in other aspects (number of words and amount of details reported, and subjective perception of the mental image activated). The suspects were interviewed twice, with an interval of one week, and in line with our prediction we found that liars’ (vs. truth tellers’) reports were less consistent over time. This study departures fromepisodic future thoughtand aims to contribute to the development of a scientifically based interview protocol for discriminating between true and false intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-representative sample of 27 investigative interviews with suspected victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Finland were analysed. Aspects such as the effects of interview phase, repeated interviewing, another (related) person attending the interview, as well as the use of anatomically detailed (AD) dolls were considered. The number of new details reported by the child was higher in the beginning, while the number of focused and suggestive question types increased towards the end of the interviews. The results of repeated interviewing were mixed: repeated interviews contained more words and descriptive answers by the child, while, however, also containing more suggestive questions. Another person attending the interview was found to be associated with the child being less informative and the interviewer posing more suggestive questions than when another person was not present. Similar effects were found to be associated with the use of AD dolls. The implications of the findings for child abuse investigations were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]