Abstract
Use of general questions in child witness interviews often limits the completeness of young children's recall. In this study experienced professionals interviewed 5–6 year olds and 8–9 year olds “as they would normally” about live events witnessed by the children. Interviewers' spontaneous use of general and specific questions was assessed, as were the effects of these question types on the children's recall. A main result was that the younger children would frequently fail to answer general questions but would then provide information relevant to these same questions later in the interview. Use of specific questions in these relatively naturalistic interviews did not necessarily improve the overall completeness of younger children's recall, contrary to some previous findings, although, in line with previous findings, such questioning reduced overall accuracy rates. These results highlighted the scale of the problem of “omission errors” in young children's recall. Implications for the use of general questions by professionals who interview child witnesses are discussed.
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This project was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant no. R000232968). We are indebted to the many schools that supported this project and to the pupils, teachers, police, social workers, and reporters to the children's panel who generously gave their time. We would like to express particular thanks to Linda Marsh of the Department of Education in Strathclyde for her invaluable assistance.
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Hutcheson, G.D., Baxter, J.S., Telfer, K. et al. Child witness statement quality. Law Hum Behav 19, 631–648 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499378
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499378