TY - JOUR
T1 - Police interviews with child witnesses: pursuing a response with maar(= Dutch but) prefaced questions
AU - Jol, G.A.H.
AU - van der Houwen, F.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Recent research emphasises the importance of how child witnesses are interviewed. Studies have shown that children can give reliable testimony if interviewers comply with instructions such as avoiding suggestive questioning and not giving feedback on the child's answers. Positive feedback suggests that there are right (and wrong) answers whereas negative feedback could urge children to change their answer. In this article we analyse questions that are prefaced by 'maar' (= Dutch 'but'), questions that are often associated with disagreement and objection and might give negative feedback. Based on the analysis of seven police interviews with child witnesses, we show 1) how these questions can treat a preceding answer as insufficient and how they project the need for another answer, and, 2) how these questions can differ a) to what extent they guide children to change their answer, b) in how they attribute responsibility for the insufficient answer to an inadequate question or to something else (e.g. the child's attention) and c) in how much pressure they exercise. © 2014, EQUINOX PUBLISHING.
AB - Recent research emphasises the importance of how child witnesses are interviewed. Studies have shown that children can give reliable testimony if interviewers comply with instructions such as avoiding suggestive questioning and not giving feedback on the child's answers. Positive feedback suggests that there are right (and wrong) answers whereas negative feedback could urge children to change their answer. In this article we analyse questions that are prefaced by 'maar' (= Dutch 'but'), questions that are often associated with disagreement and objection and might give negative feedback. Based on the analysis of seven police interviews with child witnesses, we show 1) how these questions can treat a preceding answer as insufficient and how they project the need for another answer, and, 2) how these questions can differ a) to what extent they guide children to change their answer, b) in how they attribute responsibility for the insufficient answer to an inadequate question or to something else (e.g. the child's attention) and c) in how much pressure they exercise. © 2014, EQUINOX PUBLISHING.
U2 - 10.1558/ijsll.v21i1.113
DO - 10.1558/ijsll.v21i1.113
M3 - Article
VL - 21
SP - 113
EP - 138
JO - Forensic Linguistics
JF - Forensic Linguistics
SN - 1350-1771
IS - 1
ER -