Assessing How Child Witnesses Are Questioned in Forensic Contexts Using Quantitative Linguistic Transcript Analysis

Abstract

Quantitative linguistic transcript analysis is a popular research method used in the field of forensic interviewing. The present case study describes the use of this method in the context of forensically questioning children about alleged child sexual abuse, and how I became interested in the field. Quantitative linguistic transcript analysis is presented as a method in action using one of my PhD studies as an example, looking into the effect lawyers’ questions have on children’s responses in Scottish criminal court cases. The case study describes my personal experience of attaining the sample, coding, reliability coding, and preparing the data for analyses. I provide tips for data management and practical considerations, including the necessity of avoiding chicken soup! It is concluded that although quantitative linguistic transcript analysis is a method that, in the context described, can generate data with high ecological validity, it is time intensive and potentially expensive. However, the applied significance of the findings generated from the method has been monumental in the field and continues to be so.

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