The Effects of Practice on Children's Ability to Apply Ground Rules in a Narrative Interview

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of ground rules in forensic interview guidelines, it is unknown whether children retain and apply these rules throughout narrative interviews. We evaluated the capacity of 260 five- to nine-year-olds to utilize three ground rules. At the beginning of the interview all children heard the rules; half also practiced them. Children then responded to open-ended prompts about a repeated laboratory event and were assessed for their application of the rules. Logistic regressions revealed that practice only benefitted the use of the "don't know" rule. Although the children accurately answered "don't understand" and "correct me" practice questions, practice appeared to give no greater benefit than just hearing the rules. Results suggest that the current format of ground rule practice in interview guidelines is appropriate for the "don't know" rule, but the other rules may require more extensive practice with this age group.

Investigative Interviewing of Aboriginal Children in Cases of Suspected Sexual Abuse

“…When specifically examining the "don't know" rule, however, only practice had an effect on children's usage of the rule (as opposed to simple delivery or no delivery at all). This finding is consistent with research involving nonAboriginal children, which has also found that the "don't know" ground rule needs to be practiced in order to be effective (Danby et al, 2015;Gee et al, 1999;Saywitz & Moan-Hardie, 1994). Some researchers have suggested that practicing rules consolidates children's memory of the rules as well as their confidence in using the rules (Righarts et al, 2013).…”

“…In line with the first hypothesis and previous research, the overall delivery and practice of ground rules at the beginning of the interview was positively associated with the spontaneous usage of rules in children's narratives of abuse (Danby et al, 2015;see Brubacher et al, 2015, for a review). When specifically examining the "don't know" rule, however, only practice had an effect on children's usage of the rule (as opposed to simple delivery or no delivery at all).…”

“…Alternatively, other studies have found that explaining simple ground rules to children has little effect on their narratives (Beuscher & Roebers, 2005;Ellis, Powell, Thomson, & Jones, 2003;Saywitz & Snyder, 1996). Despite some disagreement about the utility of ground rules, most experts agree that in order to make the delivery of ground rules effective, interviewers must practice them with children Danby, Brubacher, Sharman, & Powell, 2015;Gee, Gregory, & Pipe, 1999;Righarts, O'Neill, & Zajac, 2013;Saywitz & Moan-Hardie, 1994). For example, in a pilot study by Righarts and colleagues (2013), simply relaying pre-interview instructions to 5-to 10-year-old children did not promote cross-examination accuracy.…”

“…Previous work has suggested that Aboriginal children might have particular reservations about correcting an interviewer due to cultural values that aim to minimize confrontation, especially with those who are in positions of authority (Hamilton et al, in press b). Studies with non-Aboriginal children have indicated that the "mistake" rule is particularly challenging for children to accurately answer in the ground rules phase of the interview compared with other rules , and children are only more likely to correct an interviewer's mistakes when they are given extensive training to do so (Krackow & Lynn, 2010;Saywitz & Moan-Hardie, 1994) but not when given a simple practice example (Danby et al, 2015).…”

Children's Uncertain Responses when Testifying about Alleged Sexual Abuse in Scottish Courts

“…However, experimental studies have also shown that pre‐interview instructions encouraging children to say “I don't know” when they did not know led them to say “I don't know” appropriately more often, but the instruction did not affect responses to non‐misleading questions (Mulder & Vrij, ; Waterman & Blades, ). This was particularly true when children practiced using the “don't know” ground rule prior to substantive questioning (Danby, Brubacher, Sharman, & Powell, ). Such findings have informed recommendations that forensic interviewers should explicitly encourage children to say “I don't know/remember” when appropriate (Lamb et al, ).…”