Hall and Player

Question 1

What is the aim in Hall and Player?

Answer 1

to test if context had an effect on fingerprint identification by fingerprint experts

Question 2

What was the sample and in Hall and Player?

Answer 2

A self-selecting sample of 70 fingerprint experts all working for Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau

Their length of experience as experts ranged from less than three months to over 30 years

Question 3

What was the sampling method in Hall and Player?

Answer 3

Volunteer sample

Question 4

What was the method in Hall and Player ?

Answer 4

Laboratory experiment

Question 5

What was the IV in Hall and Player ?

Answer 5

Low emotional context – allegation of forgery (victimless crime)
High emotional context – allegation of murder

Question 6

What was the DV in Hall and Player ?

Answer 6

Whether the participant considered the finger mark was (i) identification – a match, (ii) not an identification – not a match, (iii) insufficient – not enough detail to undertake a comparison, (iv) insufficient detail to establish identity, some detail in agreement but not enough to individualise

Whether the participant would be confident to present the fingerprint as evidence at court.

Question 7

What materials were used in Hall and Player ?

Answer 7

-£50 note with ambiguous fingerprint
-fingerprint magnifying glass
-crime scene report questionnaire

Question 8

What was the procedure in Hall and Player?

Answer 8

-fingerprint scanned into £50 note, obscured image
-latent mark was only just identifiable
-participants given envelope with a test mark card, 10 prints for comparison and examiners report
- all had fingerprint microscope and a Russell Comparator to compare images
- ask to complete like normal task, no time restrictions and were allowed to move around and talk but not about the case

Question 9

What results did Hall and Player find ?

Question 10

What conclusions did Hall and Player make ?

Answer 10

Fingerprint experts are able to deal with the fingerprint analysis in a non-emotional manner

Question 11

What was the background to Hall and Player ?

Answer 11

• Research by Dror
  -5 volunteer fingerprint experts who were unfamiliar with evidence from madrid bombing
  -told prints were wrongly identified by FBI
  -20% said evidence was insufficient
  -20% said it was a match
  -60% agreed with the false information that it was not a match (confirmation bias)