Comparing Paper-and-Pencil and Internet Survey Methods Conducted in a Combat-Deployed Environment

The Unit Behavioral Health Needs Assessment Survey (UBHNAS) is a tool used to aid behavioral health providers in assessing the needs of service members of a military unit. Traditionally, the survey has been administered by paper-and-pencil; however, implementing the survey via the Internet may be a faster and easier way to administer the survey. There are, however, potential drawbacks to Internet survey administration, and previous studies comparing the 2 methods have yielded inconsistent findings. Using a between-subjects design with a combat-deployed military sample, the present study compared the 2 survey administration methods. Specifically, we assessed comparability for (a) psychological constructs, (b) auxiliary measures (such as completion time, frequency of missing data, and length of written comments), and (c) ratings and perceptions of the UBHNAS, and preference in methodology. The method of survey administration did not predict differences in the psychological outcome variables. However, participants in the paper-and-pencil condition reported higher rates of comfort answering questions, belief that responses would remain anonymous, and frankness and honesty in answering questions. Nevertheless, participants in both conditions preferred to take the survey via the Internet as opposed to paper-and-pencil in the future. Finally, participants in the Internet condition completed the survey faster and tended to write longer comments, although in terms of the comments being informative, there was no difference between the groups. Based on our findings, we recommend the use of the Internet for administering the UBHNAS; however, we caution that there may be tradeoffs regarding concerns about comfort, honesty, and anonymity.     

大学新生心理健康水平调查

采用国家教育部中国大学生心理健康测评系统(CSPA)中的《中国大学生心理健康量表》对天津某高校3826名2013年入学的大学新生进行问卷调查,并分析大学新生心理健康水平的人口学差异。结果 :(1)大学新生整体心理健康状况较好;(2)女生的整体心理健康水平要好于男生,但女生比男生表现出更多的自卑;(3)汉族学生比少数民族学生表现出更高的焦虑;(4)独生子女的心理健康水平显著好于非独生子女;(5)理工类、文史类、文体艺术类大学新生的心理健康水平存在差异,理工类大学生的整体心理健康水平要好于文体艺术类大学新生。     

Methods and aims of investigative interviewing of adult witnesses: An analysis of professional practices

Eyewitnesses provide crucial evidence for the investigation of criminal cases. We analysed professional police interviewers’ behaviour by conducting a literature review. Our results indicate that the interviewing techniques used by untrained and trained investigators are predominantly inappropriate and harmful to memory recall. The way investigators curtail and select witnesses’ responses suggests that they look for specific information. As a subsequent step, we analysed investigative interviewing in terms of professional objectives, identifying the types of information that the police inquire about during the interview. Based on our results, we conclude future research should perform a fine-grained analysis of professional interviewing procedures with the aim of producing effective interviewing techniques that meet investigators’ real-world objectives.     

Idiosyncratic effects of interviewer behavior on the accuracy of children's responses

Children are interviewed to provide information about past events in various contexts (e.g., police interviews, court proceedings, therapeutic interviews). During an interview, various factors may influence the accuracy of children's responses to questions about recent events. However, behavioral research in this area is limited. Sparling et al. (2011) showed that children frequently provided inaccurate responses to questions about video clips they just watched depending on the antecedents (i.e., the way a question was asked) and consequences (i.e., the response of the interviewer to their answers). In the current study, we replicated and extended the procedures reported by Sparling et al. and found that two of five children were sensitive to the various antecedents and consequences that we manipulated. Our findings indicate a need for more research in this area to determine the relevant environmental variables that affect children's response accuracy.     

Statement Validity Analysis

Summary

All information regarding 103 Dutch sexual abuse cases was analyzed using the Validity Checklist, the second part of the Statement Validity Analysis procedure. The fulfillment of the VC items was compared for four different age groups. Only two VC items differed significantly between the age groups. The systematic summarization of content analysis and validity checks revealed only a weak relationship between the fulfillment of the CBCA criteria and the VC items together and the outcome of the cases. The results suggest that SVA cannot yet be used as a scientifically validated instrument for judging the truthfulness of allegations of child sexual abuse.     

Research-Based Guidelines for Child Forensic Interviews

Abstract

We present important considerations for conducting forensic interviews with children who are witnesses to or alleged victims of crime. Specifically, we (a) present the basic principles of the forensic interview and review some of the best structured forensic protocols currently available; (b) provide a detailed, practical blueprint for conducting a structured forensic interview and emphasize how the components of the interview are based upon empirical research; and (c) discuss special con siderations for interviews with children of different age groups and children who have special needs or circumstances, and interviews involving various crime circumstances. We end with suggestions to assist legal and social service professionals in accessing the social science research literature that should inform forensic interview techniques.     

Color Associations of Male and Female Fourth-Grade School Children

Four groups (two male and two female) were asked to respond to a number of concepts with the first color that came to mind. Results led to the following conclusions: (a) We replicated Byrnes' (1983) findings that indicated that there is a definite color association among children to stimuli; (b) there was no significant difference between the responses of the male children and those of the female children; (c) two opposing findings concerning the perceived valence of colors were both supported by the data; and (d) we found mat emotionally loaded stimuli evoked similar responses from males and females, whereas neutral stimuli elicited different responses.     

Assessment of Multiple Membership Multilevel Models: An Application to Interviewer Effects on Nonresponse

Multilevel multiple membership models account for situations where lower level units are nested within multiple higher level units from the same classification. Not accounting correctly for such multiple membership structures leads to biased results. The use of a multiple membership model requires selection of weights reflecting the hypothesized contribution of each level two unit and their relationship to the level one outcome. The Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) has been proposed to identify such weights. For the case of logistic regression, this study assesses, through simulation, the model identification rates of the DIC to detect the correct multiple membership weights, and the properties of model variance estimators for different weight specifications across a range of scenarios. The study is motivated by analyzing interviewer effects across waves in a longitudinal study. Interviewers can substantially influence the behavior of sample survey respondents, including their decision to participate in the survey. In the case of a longitudinal survey several interviewers may contact sample members to participate across different waves. Multilevel multiple membership models are suitable to account for the inclusion of higher-level random effects for interviewers at various waves, and to assess, for example, the relative importance of previous and current wave interviewers on current wave nonresponse. To illustrate the application, multiple membership models are applied to the UK Family and Children Survey to identify interviewer effects in a longitudinal study. The paper takes a critical view on the substantive interpretation of the model weights and provides practical guidance to statistical modelers. The main recommendation is that it is best to specify the weights in a multiple membership model by exploring different weight specifications based on the DIC, rather than prespecifying the weights.