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Child Interviewing Practices in Canada: A Box Score from Field Observations

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Abstract

A field study of interviews with child witnesses and alleged victims was conducted. The National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) codebook served as the framework to examine a sample of 45 interviews with children ranging in age from three to 16. Results showed that pre-substantive practices were observed rarely. An examination of the questions asked during the substantive phase revealed that, on average, 40% were option-posing, 30% were directive, and 8% were invitations. Invitations produced the longest interviewee responses and the largest number of details that were central to the investigation. The implications of these findings for interviewing practices and policy are discussed.

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Notes

  1. For more information on the NICHD protocol, please visit the NICHD website: http://nichdprotocol.com/

  2. Due to the small sample size for each age group, no age-related analyses were conducted.

  3. Note that the data surrounding the distractions could only be determined for the nine interviews that were video-recorded (N = 9). Based on these data, four (44.44%) showed evidence of multiple forms of external distractions. The distractions included coloring books (75.00%), toys (50.00%), story-books (25.00%), and a child’s cell phone (25.00%).

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Acknowledgments

Research support was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the first and second authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Science Building, St. John’s, NL, Canada, A1B 3X9

    Kirk Luther, Brent Snook & Todd Barron

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Michael E. Lamb

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  1. Kirk Luther
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  2. Brent Snook
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  3. Todd Barron
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  4. Michael E. Lamb
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Correspondence to Brent Snook.

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Luther, K., Snook, B., Barron, T. et al. Child Interviewing Practices in Canada: A Box Score from Field Observations. J Police Crim Psych 30, 204–212 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-014-9149-y

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