Abstract

Research on students suggests that repeated feedback in simulated investigative interviews with avatars (computerized children) improves the quality of the interviews conducted in this simulated environment. It remains unclear whether also professional groups (psychologists) benefit from the training and if the effects obtained in the simulated interviews transfer into interviews with real children who have witnessed a mock event. We trained 40 psychologists (Study I) and 69 psychology students (Study II). In both studies, half of the participants received no feedback (control group) while the other half received feedback (experimental group) on their performance during repeated interviews with avatars. Each participant then interviewed two 4-6-year-old children who had each witnessed a different mock event without any feedback being provided. In both studies, interview quality improved in the feedback (vs. control) group during the training session with avatars. The analyses of transfer effects showed that, compared to controls, interview quality was better in the experimental group. More recommended questions were used in both studies, and more correct details were elicited from the children in Study I, during the interviews each participant conducted with two children (N = 76 in Study I; N = 116 in Study II) one week after the training. Although the two studies did not show statistically significant training effects for all investigated variables, we conclude that interview quality can be improved using avatar training and that there is transfer into actual interviews with children at least in the use of recommended questions.

抽象的

对学生的研究表明，在对虚拟人物（计算机化的儿童）进行的模拟调查访谈中反复反馈，可以提高在这种模拟环境中进行访谈的质量。尚不清楚专业团体（心理学家）是否也从培训中受益，以及模拟访谈中获得的效果是否会转变为与目击过模拟事件的真实儿​​童的访谈。我们培训了40名心理学家（研究I）和69名心理学学生（研究II）。在两项研究中，一半的参与者在重复采访化身期间没有收到关于他们的表现的反馈（对照组），另一半则得到了关于他们的表现的反馈（实验组）。然后，每个参与者采访了两个4-6岁的孩子，每个孩子目睹了一次不同的模拟事件，但没有提供任何反馈。在两项研究中，在使用化身的培训期间，反馈（相对于对照）组的访谈质量都得到了提高。转移效果的分析表明，与对照组相比，实验组的访谈质量更好。在两项研究中均使用了更多建议的问题，在研究I中的每个参与者对两个孩子进行的访谈中，也得出了更正确的细节（ 研究I中N = 76； 训练后一周，研究II）中的N = 116。尽管两项研究均未显示所有调查变量的统计学显着训练效果，但我们得出结论，使用化身训练可以提高访谈质量，并且至少可以通过使用推荐问题将访谈转化为儿童。