Practical Investigation

Question 1

What was the aim of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation?

Answer 1

An experiment investigating differences in the recall accuracy of a boat accident (video) when using a Cognitive Interview compared to a Standard Interview

Question 2

What is the IV, DV and CVs of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation?

Answer 2

IV: Cognitive Interview Questions vs Standard Interview Questions

DV: Number of the 10 key events from a boat crash accident

CV:
+ Time (30 mins)
+ Time of day (form time)
+ Age of participants (12 years old)
+ Standardised script
+ Order of interviews

Question 3

What was your one-tailed hypothesis of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation?

Answer 3

The Cognitive Interview will lead to a higher number of the 10 key events of a boat crash accident recalled compared to when a Standard Interview is used.

Question 4

What was the methodology of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation? (3 points)

Answer 4

Experimental Design: Independent groups

Experimental Method: Laboratory (classroom)

Sampling technique: Opportunity (form time 1:30 pm, year 7 form class)

Question 5

What was the procedure of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation? (5 points)

Answer 5

The 20 students were split into 2 groups: 10 Cognitive Interview and 10 Standard Interview

Pps were shown a video clip of a boat accident involving 4 boats (30 seconds)

The students were asked 4 questions via a structured Cognitive/Standard interview - their responses were audio recorded and later transcribed

Content analysis was conducted, noting the frequency of whether they remember the 5 key events from the boat accident e.g. when the dog jumped off the red boat

A standardised script was read aloud, to inform the students of the true aim, their right to withdraw throughout and a promise to debrief via email the results after data collection

Question 6

What were the results of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation? (4 points)

Answer 6

Cognitive Interview: 7.3 (mean)

Standard Interview: 5.6 (mean)

Mann Whitney U test: Calculated value: 11.5
Critical value: 23
@ p=0.05 and Na 10, Nb 10.

Significant difference - accept alternative hypothesis, reject null

Question 7

What was the conclusion of your Criminal Psychology practical investigation?

Answer 7

There is a significant difference in the number of the 10 key events of a boat crash accident between whether the witnesses were interviewed using either the Cognitive and Standard Interview

Question 8

What are the 3 improvements you could make to your Criminal Psychology practical investigation?

Answer 8

Use a matched-pairs design using participant variable CAT scores - will mitigate individual differences, allowing cause (interview) and effect (accuracy) to be established

Use stratified sampling in the school to gain a more representative age range of participants

Have two researchers independently analyse the interviews to check for consistency - inter-rater reliability

Question 9

How ethical was your Criminal Psychology practical investigation? (3 points)

Answer 9

All students were explicitly informed of their right to withdraw - advised at the beginning, middle and end of the experiment

Video of accident was shown so no issue of protection from harm - Pps left the study in the same physiological and psychological state in which they began the study

Student transcripts were assigned a number - Pps’ identities kept confidential