Investigative interviews with victims of child sexual abuse: The relationship between question type and investigation relevant information

This study examined the influence of question type during investigative interviews with victims of child sexual abuse and the number of items of Investigation Relevant Information (IRI) obtained during the interview. Twenty-one real-life police interview transcripts were analysed across different age groups. As predicted, considerably more items of IRI were elicited from appropriate questions (e.g. open, probing, and encouragers) than inappropriate questions (e.g. echo probes, closed, forced choice, leading, multiple and opinion/statement). Also as predicted, the number of items of IRI elicited increased with the age of the child witness, with older children disclosing the most items of IRI, regardless of whether the abuse was recent or historic.