Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
Home> Volumes> Volume CHR Vol.55> Article
Research Article

The Impact of Interview Techniques and Their Contextual Application on the Reliability of Children’s Testimony

Shuning ZhangUniversity of California* Junyao HouBeijing National Day School

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Throughout history, the authenticity and credibility of children’s eyewitness testimony have been subjects of ongoing debate among researchers. Our study examines previous research on factors affecting the accuracy and reliability of children’s testimony, highlighting how external factors, particularly interview elements, significantly contribute to children’s false reports without dismissing their testimony solely based on age. These factors include question types, interviewer's attitudes, and specific interview protocols. These findings are crucial for the legal system, highlighting how external factors significantly contribute to children’s false reports without dismissing their testimony solely due to age. Finally, most studies have been conducted in Western country's contexts and might have been arguably affected by Western cultural norms. This paper also pointed out the lack of studies on cultural differences between Western and non-Western countries. Addressing this gap could provide new research directions for future scholars. Overall, we emphasize the need for meticulous interviewing techniques tailored to different contexts to increase the accuracy and trustworthiness of children’s statements.

Keywords: children’s testimony; interview questions; interviewer’s attitudes; reliability
Published: March 7, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2024.21310
Volume: CHR Vol.55
pp. 72-79
Download PDF

References

  1. Turner, H. A., Finkel or, D., & Ormrod, R. (2010). Poly-victimization in a national sample of children and Youth. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 38(3), 323–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.11.012
  2. Saunders, B. E., & Adams, Z. W. (2014). Epidemiology of traumatic experiences in childhood. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 23(2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2013.12.003
  3. Brainerd, C. J., & Reyna, V. F. (2012). Reliability of children’s testimony in the era of developmental reversals. Developmental Review, 32(3), 224–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2012.06.008
  4. Goodman, G. S., & Schaaf, J. M. (1997). Over a decade of research on children’s eyewitness testimony: What have we learned? where do we go from here? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199712)11:73.0.co;2-c
  5. Peterson, C. (2012). Children’s autobiographical memories across the years: Forensic implications of childhood amnesia and eyewitness memory for stressful events. Developmental Review, 32(3), 287–306. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.dr.2012.06.002
  6. Pipe, M.-E., Lamb, M. E., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2004). Recent research on children’s testimony about experienced and witnessed events. Developmental Review, 24(4), 440–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.dr.2004.08.006
  7. Schneider, W., & Ornstein, P. A. (2015). The development of children’s memory. Child Development Perspectives, 9(3), 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12129
  8. Bowles, P. V., & Sharman, S. J. (2013). A Review of the Impact of Different Types of Leading Interview Questions on Child and Adult Witnesses with Intellectual Disabilities. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 21(2), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2013.803276
  9. Krähenbühl, S., & Blades, M. (2006). The effect of interviewing techniques on young children’s responses to questions. Child: Care, Health and Development, 32(3), 321–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006. 00608.x
  10. Goodman, G. S., & Melinder, A. (2007). Child witness research and forensic interviews of young children: A review. Legal and Criminological Psychology., 12(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1348/135532506X156620
  11. Feltis, B. B., Powell, M. B., Snow, P. C., & Hughes-Scholes, C. H. (2010). An examination of the association between interviewer question type and story-grammar detail in child witness interviews about abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34(6), 407–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2009.09.019
  12. Otgaar, H., de Ruiter, C., Howe, M. L., Hoetmer, L., & van Reekum, P. (2016). A case concerning children’s false memories of abuse: Recommendations regarding expert witness work. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 24(3), 365–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2016.1230924
  13. Anderson, J. R. (1983). A spreading activation theory of memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22(3), 261–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-5371(83)90201-3
  14. Brubacher, S. P., Peterson, C., La Rooy, D., Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2019). How children talk about events: Implications for eliciting and analyzing eyewitness reports. Developmental Review, 51, 70–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.12.003
  15. Lyon, T. D. (2014). Interviewing children. Annual review of law and social science, 10(1), 73-89.
  16. Gustafsson Jertfelt, I. H., Blanchin, A., & Li, S. (2016). Cultural perspective in open-ended interviews – The importance of being adaptable. Culture & Psychology, 22(4), 483-501. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X16650809
  17. Memon, A., Meissner, C. A., & Fraser, J. (2010). The cognitive interview: A Meta-analytic review and Study Space Analysis of the past 25 years. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 16(4), 340–372. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0020518
  18. Orbach, Y., Hershkowitz, I., Lamb, M. E., Sternberg, K. J., Esplin, P. W., & Horowitz, D. (2000). Assessing the value of structured protocols for forensic interviews of alleged child abuse victims. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24(6), 733–752. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0145-2134(00)00137-x