Cognitive Interview Evaluation

Cognitive Interview Evaluation

1. Practical Application

   • Limited practical application
   • Police may be reluctant to use CI because it is more time consuming than the standard interview
   • Have to develop a rapport and time for witnesses to relax so it takes a long time
   • Requires special training - many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours
   • Unlikely the 'proper' version of the CI is being used
   • May explain why the police have not been impressed by it

2. Methodology

   • Not really just one procedure, but a collection of related techniques
   • Problems with evaluating the effectiveness of CI
   • Many police forces claim to use the CI but do different versions of it
   • E.g. some forces may include 'change perspective' but others tend to only use 'mental and 'report everything'
   • Police forces evolve their own methods
   • Makes it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the CI

3. Contradiction in Supporting Research

   • CI aims to increase the amount of correct info recalled
   • Research suggests CI is effective
   • Kohnken
     • Found 81% increase of correct info
     • Found 61% increase of incorrect info
   • Police need to treat info collected with CI with caution
   • CI does not guarantee accuracy