evaluation

• strengths of misleading info

  • high reliability- standardised lab experiment procedures
  • practical applications- development of cognitive interview
• • one strength is that the research is high in reliability.
  • This is because the research uses lab experiments which have very standardised procedures. For example all participants were shown the same simulated footage and were asked the same questions apart from the verbs.
  • This means that the research is replicable and we can reliably conclude that misleading questions have an affect on memory
• • one strength is that it has allowed for practical applications to be developed.
  • For example it has been used to warn the justice systems of problems of eye witness testimony.
  • This has lead to the development of the cognitive interview which is now used to reduce the effects of leading questions.
  • This means the research can be praised as it improves the justice system and prevents wrongful convictions.
• • one weakness is that it has low ecological validity
  • this is because watching the video is artificial and does therefore not evoke the same emotional response as to if you were watching it happen in real life.
  • this means that the findings cannot be generalized to real life crimes and events.
• • one weakness is that it has contradictory evidence.
  • For example Yuille and Cutshall investigated witnesses to a real life bank robbery in Canada. The witnesses were interviewed 4 months after the event and the researchers used 2 leading questions. However this didn't affect witnesses recall of the event
  • This shows that misleading questions may have little influence on real life crime events.