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Published on: June 14, 2019
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Practicing ground rule instructions assists adults in reporting experienced events
Becky Earhart1,2, Sonja P Brubacher1, Mohammed M Ali1,3
1Centre for Investigative Interviewing, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Summary
Ground rules in interviews help adult participants, especially when practiced. This technique reduces agreement with problematic questions and is effective for both younger and older adults recalling events.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Interviewing Techniques
Background:
- Adults often recount personally experienced events in interviews.
- The effectiveness of ground rules in mitigating issues like acquiescence bias is not fully understood across different age groups.
- Real-world interview contexts often involve delayed recall of events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of specific ground rules ('Don't Know', 'Don't Understand', 'Correct Me') on adult interviewees.
- To compare the effects of ground rules presented as statements versus those accompanied by practice questions.
- To examine age-related differences (younger vs. older adults) in response to ground rules during event recall interviews.
Main Methods:
- 117 adult participants (18-40 and 60+ years) were interviewed about a meaningful event.
- Three experimental conditions were used: control (no ground rules), ground rules as statements, and ground rules with practice questions.
- Participants were prompted to invoke ground rules during the interview when faced with problematic questions.
Main Results:
- Practicing ground rules significantly reduced acquiescence to problematic questions compared to the control group for all tested rules.
- Younger and older adults exhibited distinct performance patterns across the different types of ground rules.
- The study demonstrated the utility of ground rules in interview settings mirroring real-world scenarios with delayed event recall.
Conclusions:
- Practicing ground rules is an effective strategy to improve the quality of adult interview data by reducing acquiescence.
- Ground rules can be tailored to yield differentiated benefits for various age groups during event recall.
- This research supports the broader application of ground rules in adult interviews, particularly in contexts involving delayed personal event descriptions.
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