Child-Maltreatment-Research-L (CMRL) List Serve

Message ID: 9794

Date: 2015-04-28

Author:Bruce Borkosky

Subject:Re: prompting for responses among 10-14 year-olds

there's lots of lit on suggestibility, as well as best practices on interviewing children suspected of being abused. I don't know that oral communication of multiple choice response options would be considered to be leading. However, if the options are yes/no, then I would agree. The more options there are, the better. You can also use a likert scale for items that may not be socially acceptable, and/or is infrequently done by a majority of people. For example: How many times have you shoplifted? a. none b. once c. twice d. less than 10 times e. more than 10 times respondents who might tend to minimize are thus given opportunity to do so, w/o realizing that the modal response is 'none' BB On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 11:35 AM, Hallman, Kelly > wrote: Hello, I am working with children aged 10-14 in LMICs around issues of pregnancy knowledge and risk. In my experience interviewing this age group, we have not prompted for responses (i.e., read the response options to them) due to concerns of children feeling compelled to say “yes” to something just to please the interviewer. I have a colleague who is insisting we read the response options to the interviewees. Is there an academic literature indicating what the best strategy is here? Even US or European studies would be useful. Thanks, Kelly ________________________________________ Kelly K. Hallman, PhD Senior Associate POPULATION COUNCIL IDEAS. EVIDENCE. IMPACT. www.popcouncil.org ________________________________________ -- Bruce G. Borkosky, Psy.D. PA 1800 Lakeview Drive Sebring, FL 33870 863-386-0276 800-919-9008 Fax 813-200-8450 email: ForensicPsychologist@outlook.com forensic psych search engine: www.fl-forensic.com/search-1/ HIPAA CE Course: http://www.zurinstitute.com/hipaa_patient_rights_course.html This communication is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please communicate the error immediately, and delete all copies.

there's lots of lit on suggestibility, as well as best practices on interviewing children suspected of being abused. I don't know that oral communication of multiple choice response options would be considered to be leading. However, if the options are yes/no, then I would agree. The more options there are, the better. You can also use a likert scale for items that may not be socially acceptable, and/or is infrequently done by a majority of people. For example: How many times have you shoplifted? a. none b. once c. twice d. less than 10 times e. more than 10 times respondents who might tend to minimize are thus given opportunity to do so, w/o realizing that the modal response is 'none' BB On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 11:35 AM, Hallman, Kelly > wrote: Hello, I am working with children aged 10-14 in LMICs around issues of pregnancy knowledge and risk. In my experience interviewing this age group, we have not prompted for responses (i.e., read the response options to them) due to concerns of children feeling compelled to say “yes” to something just to please the interviewer. I have a colleague who is insisting we read the response options to the interviewees. Is there an academic literature indicating what the best strategy is here? Even US or European studies would be useful. Thanks, Kelly ________________________________________ Kelly K. Hallman, PhD Senior Associate POPULATION COUNCIL IDEAS. EVIDENCE. IMPACT. www.popcouncil.org ________________________________________ -- Bruce G. Borkosky, Psy.D. PA 1800 Lakeview Drive Sebring, FL 33870 863-386-0276 800-919-9008 Fax 813-200-8450 email: ForensicPsychologistoutlook.com forensic psych search engine: www.fl-forensic.com/search-1/ HIPAA CE Course: http://www.zurinstitute.com/hipaa_patient_rights_course.html This communication is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please communicate the error immediately, and delete all copies.