Application Assignment
Application Assignment
Cognitive interviewing is a practice that is widespread across many survey and investigative organizations. Cognitive interviewing is a qualitative method that examines the question-response process taking into account the consideration used by respondents as they formulate answers. The structure of the interviews consists of respondents first answering a question and then providing information, usually textual, to reveal how they went about answering the question. The interviews follow an order that intends to capture relevant information by activating the mental records of the respondents.
An important step that should be undertaken by forensic interviewers in the preparation of cognitive interviews is formulating an effective questioning sequence. The questioning part of the cognitive interviews consists of a sequence of two steps: activating a picture and probing it (Geiselman & Fisher, 2014). This means that questions must incorporate a standardized list as well as follow-up questions so that the main point under investigation can be linked to the follow-up information to help in checking for coherence and consistency. Therefore, it is important for the interviewers to be aware of what is being investigated and the possible known stand. An important consideration in cognitive interviews is the memory recollection. The first and most important factor in the question preparation of the interview is content reinstatement. This relates to the physical or personal feeling that can be used to retrieve cues which help to access memory.
One of the most common challenges to the credibility of cognitive interviewing is the issue of systematic bias through investigator control of data collection, recording, and analysis. Bias is likely to occur when the forensic interviewers are aware of the issue under investigation (Geiselman, 2012). To ensure that the interviewer does not bias the process, adopting an identity-blind policy for the forensic interviewers, training programs for interviewers, and adopting structured interviews can play a significant role. This reduces aspects such as prejudice and enhances social distancing from the interviewees thus limiting the process to one based on information finding rather than being prejudicial.
There are two primary cognitive interviewing techniques- the think-aloud and verbal probing technique. In the think-aloud technique, participants complete survey instruments while they vocalize their thought process. This strategy helps interviewers to understand how respondents perceive the questions and identify misunderstanding. It is useful for children and those who may have challenges understanding what is asked, vulnerable population. The verbal probing strategy administers questioning instruments to subjects without commentary followed by asking questions after the respondents have completed the instrument. This helps to explore certain aspects of the response process and is useful for respondents of specific populations since it guarantees the understanding of items as intended by the researchers. Each strategy is calculated to elicit more cues that may have been associatively encoded with relevant details of the event and may thus serve to retrieve more information. Both seek to capture the important elements of information sought first then follow-up information.
References
Geiselman, R. E. (2012). The Cognitive Interview for Suspects (CIS). American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 30(3), 1-16.
Geiselman, R. E., & Fisher, R. P. (2014). Interviewing Witnesses and Victims. In M. St. Yves (Ed.), Investigative Interviewing: Handbook of Best Practices (pp. 29-62). Toronto, ON: Thomson Reuters Publishers.
