Interviewing Children About Past Events: Evaluating the NICHD Interview Protocol
| Status: | Completed |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Cognitive Studies |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Psychiatry / Psychology |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 5 - Any |
| Updated: | 4/21/2016 |
| Start Date: | January 2004 |
| End Date: | October 2006 |
Evaluating the NICHD Interview Protocol in an Analog Study
This study, conducted by the NICHD in collaboration with Lancaster University in Lancaster,
England, will evaluate the accuracy of information obtained from children using AN ADAPTED
VERSION OF NICHD's interview protocol. The NICHD protocol was developed to help forensic
interviewers OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children who may be victims of or witnesses to a crime
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES. This study does not involve forensic interviews, but is DESIGNED TO
OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children ABOUT an event that takes place at their school. The study
will examine how children report a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult, how the
memory of the event changes over time, and how the use of different interview techniques can
help children give a fuller and more accurate accounts of past experiences.
Children 5 and 6 years of age who attend local schools in the Lancaster, England, area may
be eligible for this study. Participants will be told that they are going to have their
pictures taken and will be escorted by a researcher to a room at the school with another
researcher who is posing as a photographer. The "photographer" and the child will put on a
costume, such as a pirate's outfit, over their street clothes, helping each other put on
pieces of the costume. The photographer will take pictures of the child in the costume. They
will each take off the costumes and the child will be told that he or she will receive the
photographs at a later time. Another researcher posing as a photographer will come into the
room, interrupting the event, and begin to argue with the first photographer about who had
booked the equipment. They will resolve the argument and apologize to the child for the
interruption.
About 6 weeks after the event, the children will be interviewed using the ADAPTED VERSION OF
NICHD interview protocol. Half will be interviewed first about the staged event (the photo
session), followed by an interview about a fictitious event (e.g., a class visit to the fire
station) that could plausibly have happened but did not. The other half of the children will
be interviewed first about the fictitious event and then about the staged event. The
children will be interviewed according to one of the following three procedures:
- The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the
interview and open-ended questions about the child and a recently experienced event
- The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the
interview and direct questions about the child and a recently experienced event, or
- The NICHD protocol preceded by the rules of the interview and open-ended questions
about the child, but no opportunity to practice talking about a recently experienced
event.
After the interviewer has elicited as much information as is likely to be gained from verbal
questions, he or she will present the child with a line drawing of a gender neutral person
and ask the child to indicate where the child was touched by the photographer and where the
child touched the photographer. Any child who provides a report of the fictitious event will
be interviewed in the same way about the fictitious event. After 1 year, the children will
be interviewed again in the same manner as the 6-week interview.
The interviews will be audio- and videotaped to record the kind of information the children
talk about and compare it to what actually happened in the event.
England, will evaluate the accuracy of information obtained from children using AN ADAPTED
VERSION OF NICHD's interview protocol. The NICHD protocol was developed to help forensic
interviewers OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children who may be victims of or witnesses to a crime
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES. This study does not involve forensic interviews, but is DESIGNED TO
OBTAIN INFORMATION FROM children ABOUT an event that takes place at their school. The study
will examine how children report a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult, how the
memory of the event changes over time, and how the use of different interview techniques can
help children give a fuller and more accurate accounts of past experiences.
Children 5 and 6 years of age who attend local schools in the Lancaster, England, area may
be eligible for this study. Participants will be told that they are going to have their
pictures taken and will be escorted by a researcher to a room at the school with another
researcher who is posing as a photographer. The "photographer" and the child will put on a
costume, such as a pirate's outfit, over their street clothes, helping each other put on
pieces of the costume. The photographer will take pictures of the child in the costume. They
will each take off the costumes and the child will be told that he or she will receive the
photographs at a later time. Another researcher posing as a photographer will come into the
room, interrupting the event, and begin to argue with the first photographer about who had
booked the equipment. They will resolve the argument and apologize to the child for the
interruption.
About 6 weeks after the event, the children will be interviewed using the ADAPTED VERSION OF
NICHD interview protocol. Half will be interviewed first about the staged event (the photo
session), followed by an interview about a fictitious event (e.g., a class visit to the fire
station) that could plausibly have happened but did not. The other half of the children will
be interviewed first about the fictitious event and then about the staged event. The
children will be interviewed according to one of the following three procedures:
- The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the
interview and open-ended questions about the child and a recently experienced event
- The NICHD protocol preceded by a rapport-building phase that includes the rules of the
interview and direct questions about the child and a recently experienced event, or
- The NICHD protocol preceded by the rules of the interview and open-ended questions
about the child, but no opportunity to practice talking about a recently experienced
event.
After the interviewer has elicited as much information as is likely to be gained from verbal
questions, he or she will present the child with a line drawing of a gender neutral person
and ask the child to indicate where the child was touched by the photographer and where the
child touched the photographer. Any child who provides a report of the fictitious event will
be interviewed in the same way about the fictitious event. After 1 year, the children will
be interviewed again in the same manner as the 6-week interview.
The interviews will be audio- and videotaped to record the kind of information the children
talk about and compare it to what actually happened in the event.
The NICHD interview protocol was designed to aid forensic interviewers in adhering to best
standards of practice when interviewing children. Field studies evaluating its use have
demonstrated improvements in both interviewer behavior, and the amount and quality of
information obtained from children, compared to interviews conducted prior to its
implementation in test sites. Because field studies were conducted in forensic settings,
however, it has not been possible to evaluate the protocol's effect on the accuracy of
information reported by children. This present study therefore aims to evaluate the accuracy
of information obtained using the NICHD interview protocol in an analog study. In addition
the study is designed to explore children's willingness to provide details of a suggested,
non-experienced event, and the effectiveness of including a human figure drawing as an
auxiliary technique for eliciting further information. Furthermore, we will explore the
importance of the pre-substantive/rapport-building phase of interviews, and the impact this
has on children's reports of experienced and suggested events. Finally, we will explore the
effectiveness of the interview protocol with children when a long delay has occurred between
the event and the interview.
Children will take part, individually, in a staged event at their school, and approximately
six weeks later, be interviewed at the university about what they experienced. In addition,
children will be asked to talk about a suggested fictitious event (one that has not
happened). The order of the interviews will be counter-balanced across children and
rapport-building conditions. Some children will be interviewed with an open-ended script
that includes practice in episodic memory, some with a script made up of direct questions,
including a practice in episodic memory, and some with one that uses open-ended questions
but does not provide practice in talking about an event from episodic memory. Approximately
one year later children will be interviewed again, so that we can examine children's reports
in protocol interviews over a long delay. Children's reports will be analyzed for both
overall amount and accuracy of information reported, as well as in response to the different
cues and props given in the course of the interview. It is not anticipated that the study
will pose any risks to the children involved, and we expect that both the staged event and
the interviews will be enjoyable and stimulating. We expect that the results of the study
will provide further support for the use of NICHD interview as a safe and effective means of
interviewing children about past experiences. In addition to general information on
children's eyewitness capabilities, the study is expected to supplement field studies by
contributing knowledge about the accuracy of children's memory using the NICHD interview
protocol.
standards of practice when interviewing children. Field studies evaluating its use have
demonstrated improvements in both interviewer behavior, and the amount and quality of
information obtained from children, compared to interviews conducted prior to its
implementation in test sites. Because field studies were conducted in forensic settings,
however, it has not been possible to evaluate the protocol's effect on the accuracy of
information reported by children. This present study therefore aims to evaluate the accuracy
of information obtained using the NICHD interview protocol in an analog study. In addition
the study is designed to explore children's willingness to provide details of a suggested,
non-experienced event, and the effectiveness of including a human figure drawing as an
auxiliary technique for eliciting further information. Furthermore, we will explore the
importance of the pre-substantive/rapport-building phase of interviews, and the impact this
has on children's reports of experienced and suggested events. Finally, we will explore the
effectiveness of the interview protocol with children when a long delay has occurred between
the event and the interview.
Children will take part, individually, in a staged event at their school, and approximately
six weeks later, be interviewed at the university about what they experienced. In addition,
children will be asked to talk about a suggested fictitious event (one that has not
happened). The order of the interviews will be counter-balanced across children and
rapport-building conditions. Some children will be interviewed with an open-ended script
that includes practice in episodic memory, some with a script made up of direct questions,
including a practice in episodic memory, and some with one that uses open-ended questions
but does not provide practice in talking about an event from episodic memory. Approximately
one year later children will be interviewed again, so that we can examine children's reports
in protocol interviews over a long delay. Children's reports will be analyzed for both
overall amount and accuracy of information reported, as well as in response to the different
cues and props given in the course of the interview. It is not anticipated that the study
will pose any risks to the children involved, and we expect that both the staged event and
the interviews will be enjoyable and stimulating. We expect that the results of the study
will provide further support for the use of NICHD interview as a safe and effective means of
interviewing children about past experiences. In addition to general information on
children's eyewitness capabilities, the study is expected to supplement field studies by
contributing knowledge about the accuracy of children's memory using the NICHD interview
protocol.
- INCLUSION CRITERIA:
Children between the ages of 5-6.
All children within the nominated age range attending the participating schools, whose
parents have given consent, will be included in the study.
If children are identified as having specific disabilities that may affect their abiity to
give a report about their experience (e.g., a developmental delay), or if English is a
second language and inadequate mastery at the time of interview affects the child's
reports, they will be included in the event and interviewed, but their data will be
excluded from later analysis.
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