Driving examiners’ views on data-driven assessment of test candidates: An interview study

Vehicles are increasingly equipped with sensors that capture the state of the driver, the vehicle, and the environment. These developments are relevant to formal driver testing, but little is known about the extent to which driving examiners would support the use of sensor data in their job. This semi-structured interview study examined the opinions of 37 driving examiners about data-driven assessment of test candidates. The results showed that the examiners were supportive of using data to explain their pass/fail verdict to the candidate. According to the examiners, data in an easily accessible form such as graphs of eye movements, headway, speed, or braking behavior, and color-coded scores, supplemented with camera images, would allow them to eliminate doubt or help them convince disagreeing test-takers. The examiners were skeptical about higher levels of decision support, noting that forming an overall picture of the candidate’s abilities requires integrating multiple context-dependent sources of information. The interviews yielded other possible applications of data collection and sharing, such as selecting optimal routes, improving standardization, and training and pre-selecting candidates before they are allowed to take the driving test. Finally, the interviews focused on an increasingly viable form of data collection: simulator-based driver testing. This yielded a divided picture, with about half of the examiners being positive and half negative about using simulators in driver testing. In conclusion, this study has provided important insights regarding the use of data as an explanation aid for examiners. Future research should consider the views of test candidates and experimentally evaluate different forms of data-driven support in the driving test.     

‘The third person in the room’: Recording the counselling interview for the purpose of counsellor training – barrier to relationship building or effective tool for professional development?

Objective: Audio and videotape interview recording for training and supervision in counsellor education is commonplace within New Zealand, yet researchers have paid little attention to its value perceived by students. This study explores counselling students’ perceptions of the effects of recording counselling interviews on themselves, their clients and on the counselling process. Design: Counselling students from five tertiary educational settings in New Zealand participated in individual or focus group interviews to discuss their experiences of recording counselling interviews. Findings: All interviewees indicated that recording initially curtailed their ability to be completely present in the counselling interview. Some thought this may have negatively influenced their clients’ ability to use the counselling session effectively. Most noted their own increased confidence over time. Almost all considered recording to be extremely beneficial to the development of effective counselling skills. Conclusion: Most students considered the benefits of recording to outweigh the drawbacks. Implications for continuing the practice of recording and playing back interviews in counsellor‐education programmes are considered.     

Increasing the number of contacts generated during contact tracing interviews

ABSTRACT

To stem the spread of infectious diseases (e.g., Ebola), epidemiologists conduct contact tracing interviews (CTIs) with infected individuals regarding their contacts who may also be infected. These contact tracing interviews, however, may be vulnerable to deadly errors of omission. A promising technique to maximise recall is the Cognitive Interview (CI), which is grounded in psychological theory. In the present study, participants imagined they were infected with meningococcal meningitis and reported their contacts over the previous three days during either a control interview or a CI. To model the cognitive impairment associated with being sick, half of the participants were interviewed while simultaneously completing a cognitive impairment task. The CI generated more contacts than the control interview. However, when the cognitive impairment task was completed, the CI and the control interview performed similarly. We recommend the CI be considered as an alternative to the control interview, particularly if the interviewee is not temporarily impaired due to distraction or illness.     

Experiences of Newly Married Black Women Staying with the Extended Family in a Township in South Africa

We report the results of a phenomenological study on the experiences of newly married black women staying with extended family in South African townships. Our goals for the study included in-depth interviews on experiences and guidelines to facilitate these women's mental health. We interviewed six newly married women (age range 20 to 30 years; mean period in marriage = 3 years) staying with the extended families in an urban South African township. An open central question was posed to the newly married black women who fitted the inclusion criteria and this was followed by probing questions to explore and describe the experiences of staying with the extended family in an urban township. Newly married black women who do not follow the expected practices from the teachings of the extended family experienced victimisation by the extended family. The mental health of newly married black women staying with the extended family in an urban South African township could be facilitated by empowering these women with communication skills to enable them to express their feelings and concerns effectively.     

Experiences of Managers of Aggression in the Workplace

The study explored and described the experiences of workplace aggression by managers in a northern South African district. Participants were seven managers from two medium sized companies. One of the companies was from the dairy industry and the other from the auditors' industry. These participants held managerial positions over other workers for at least one year, were from the same district and could converse fluently in Afrikaans and English. Data were gathered using in-depth phenomenological interviews and analysed by means of open coding. Findings suggest that work place aggression could be confused with ambition, the quality of discipline and conflict, and power play. Managers also observed that while an aggressive management style was effective to get the job done, it could also hamper constructive communication and the quality of work life.     

Therapists' Experiences of Conducting Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Online vis-à-vis Face-to-Face

This study has explored therapists' experiences of conducting cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) online and face-to-face. Eleven therapists partook in semi-structured interviews, which were thematically analysed using an abductive approach. The results indicate that the therapists viewed face-to-face therapy as a stronger experience than Internet-based CBT (ICBT), and the latter as being more manualised, but providing more work-time control. Several participants also thought that working alliance may be achieved faster and more easily in face-to-face therapy, and might worsen with fewer modalities of communication. Clinical implications in need of investigation are whether working with ICBT might buffer therapist exhaustion, and whether this therapy form can be improved by becoming less manual dependant in order to be easier to individualise.     

结构化面试中评分量表对评分准确性的影响

采用2(组内变量:量尺大小(25分和9分))×2(组间变量:评分方法(相对和绝对))的混合实验设计探讨评分量表对115名大学生新手评委评分准确性的影响。对于评分准确性,采用Cronbach1955年提出的四个指标,Elevation(EL)、Differential elevation(DE)、Stereotype accuracy(SA)、Differential Accuracy(DA)。结果发现,评分方法只在SA上主效应显著,量尺大小在只在DA上主效应边缘显著,评分方法和量尺大小在DE、SA和DA三个指标上均有交互作用。总体上看,在结构化面试评分中,对于评分准确性,相对评分量表优于绝对评分量表,小量尺量表优于大量尺量表。     

Popular or unpopular? Therapists' use of structured interviews and their estimation of patient acceptance

An accurate diagnosis is an important precondition for effective psychotherapeutic treatment. The use of structured interviews provides the gold standard for reliable diagnosis. Suppiger et al. (2009) showed that structured interviews have a high acceptance among patients. On a scale from 0 (not at all satisfied) to 100 (totally satisfied) patients rated overall satisfaction with a structured interview at M = 86.55. Nevertheless, therapists rarely seem to use structured interviews in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to assess how frequently therapists use structured interviews in daily practice. Secondly, we hypothesized that therapists underestimate patient acceptance of structured interviews. As a third goal, we explored further reasons why therapists choose not to use structured interviews. We conducted an online survey of 1,927 psychiatrists and psychotherapists in Switzerland and asked them how frequently they used structured interviews and how they estimated patient satisfaction with these interviews. Furthermore, we asked therapists why they chose to use or not use structured interviews. Therapists reported using structured interviews on average with about 15% of their patients. Furthermore, therapists estimated significantly lower patient acceptance than patients themselves indicated (M_therapist = 49.41, M_patient = 86.55). Our data suggest lack of familiarity with these instruments as well as an overestimation of the utility of open clinical interviews as further reasons for not using structured interviews.     

What’s in a name? A psychoanalytic exploration of self and identity in transgender individuals who were assigned female at birth

This study explores the development of self and gender identity within the lived experience of transgender individuals who were assigned female at birth and now identify as male or male spectrum. A psychoanalytically informed interview technique was employed here, involving six participants, aged 20–37 for 3–4 one-hour interviews. Alongside close attention to the content and the manner of representation of self and other across interviews, the analysis was also informed by counter-transference processes. Three core themes emerged from the data: ‘What’s in a Name?’; ‘Rejected, Bullied, Ignored and Forgotten’; and ‘I’m a Boy (not a Girl)’. Recollections of traumatic experiences and the use of laughter were other notable details that appeared across participants. Links are made between the emerging themes and concepts of incongruent mirroring and the development of a false self. Directions for further research and clinical implications for working with transgender clients in a psychotherapeutic context are also outlined.     

Post‐traumatic factors and resilience: the role of shelter management and survivours' attitudes after the earthquakes in El Salvador (2001)

A participatory research action was undertaken in the two largest shelters established after the earthquakes in El Salvador (2001). One hundred fifteen semi‐structured interviews were carried out among refugees, which later formed the basis for a self‐managed community plan. Comparisons between the two shelters—which differed primarily in whether the grouping of tents was made to reflect the community of origin of the survivors (shelter Santa Gertrudis) or not (shelter El Cafetalón)—showed that refugees in Santa Gertrudis participated more often in community activities, and had more positive emotional memories, fewer feelings of having been humiliated and less emotional discomfort than refugees in El Cafetalón. The results suggest that forms of organisation and management which consider elements of dignity, participation and respect for the capacity of the victims to control their own lives are relevant factors for effective individual and community coping after a catastrophe. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.