Tele-Forensic Interviewing Can Be a Reasonable Alternative to Face-to- Face Interviewing of Child Witnesses

Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to provide access to this paper, however, the abstract is below and you can access the complete paper here:

https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000443.supp 

Objective: Tele-forensic interviews have the potential to aid investigations when children live far from interviewers, there is a risk of disease transmission, or when expertise is not locally available. However, it is unknown whether tele-forensic interviewing is an effective alternative to face-to-face interviewing, particularly for children most prone to suggestibility and lapses of attention. 

Hypotheses: Previous studies suggested that school-age children would provide similar amounts of information across interview modes but provided no basis for predicting how misinformation impacts accuracy across modes or how 4- and 5-year-olds would react to tele-forensic interviewing. 

Method: Children (4–8 years, N = 261, Mage = 6.42 years, 48% female) interacted with male assistants who violated a no-touching rule, parents read children a book containing misinformation about that event, and female assistants conducted interviews (usually 2 weeks after the event) face-to-face or via a video conference application. 

Results: The children were more talkative during a practice narrative phase when interviewed face-to-face rather than on screen (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.26, 95% CI [1.06, 1.51]), and 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds said more in response to open-ended prompts when interviewed face-to-face (IRR = 1.50, 95% CI [1.08, 2.09]). Children younger than 7 years also disclosed the face touch and noncompleted handshake in response to earlier and less directive prompts when interviewed face-to-face, rs(53) = .28, p = .037, and rs(48) = .33, p = .021, respectively. Children 8 years and older, however, disclosed the face touch more readily when they spoke on screen, rs(28) = .38, p = .036, and older 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds disclosed the non-completed handshake more readily on screen, rs(30) = .36, p = .042. Across interview modes, children reported comparable numbers of touch events, however, and were equally accurate on challenging source-monitoring and detail questions. 

Conclusions: Tele-forensic interviewing can be a reasonable alternative to face-to-face interviewing.