Interviewer bias in simulated child sexual abuse interviews: the role of previous experiences and naive trust in the interview process, S-ST-23-20

Project No S-ST-23-20

Project title: “Interviewer bias in simulated child sexual abuse interviews: the role of previous experiences and naive trust in the interview process”

Project duration: 2023-10-03 2024-04-30

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Rita Žukauskienė

Student: Mayla Milalnovic

About the project: Previous studies have shown a significant effect of confirmation bias in interviews with children who may have experienced sexual violence. Many factors can influence the interviewer’s attitudes, such as previous training or child-rearing experience. However, the influence of these factors on a person’s naïve confidence has not been studied before. Naive confidence refers to a person’s belief in his or her own abilities despite a lack of knowledge (Gewehr et al., 2023). This confidence is based on previous experience. The data for this project were collected as part of the ongoing research project UNCOVABUSE. Participants were asked about their previous experiences and the effectiveness of their questionnaires was recorded. The data collected allows us to explore the potential impact that this confirmation bias may have on the quality of the interviews. This would ultimately benefit both the interviewer and the interviewee (child). The aim of this study is to better understand the impact of naive trust on the effectiveness of interviewer interviews and to contribute to improving the quality of interview training.

The project is funded by the Lithuanian Research Council under the Student Research Semesters programme.