NCJ Number
179060
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 23 Issue: 5 Dated: October 1999 Pages: 539-555
Editor(s)
Richard L. Wiener
Date Published
October 1999
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined the influence of question format on preschool-aged children's errors in the course of an interview, their response accuracy, and their tendency to say "I don't know" when given non-misleading questions in a neutral, unbiased context.
Abstract
A total of 95 preschoolers (48 boys and 47 girls) participated individually in the study. The children, who were 3- to 5-year-olds, were recruited from three daycare centers associated with educational institutions. The two variables investigated were question format and question content. The children participated in a craft-making session that included a staged "accident" with two researchers who differed in gender and appearance; the environment also had several distinctive features. One week later children were interviewed about what occurred, with a focus on actions, participants, and environment; questions were in a yes/no format with the veridical response "yes" ("yes" questions), yes/no format with the veridical response "no" ("no" questions), and specific wh- format questions. Question format substantially influenced children's responses; they were most likely to make errors if asked "no" questions, and were unlikely to answer either yes/no question with "I don't know." In contrast, children spontaneously and frequently said "I don't know" to wh-questions about content they did not recall (environment), but not about content that was recalled accurately (actions). The implications of the findings for question format in obtaining reliability in preschooler eyewitness testimony are discussed. 2 tables and 33 references