Fairer decisions through investigative interviewing

Professor Martine Powell, Director of the Centre for Investigative Interviewing, Griffith University, is a world-leading expert in best practice investigative interviewing techniques and effective training methods for interviewers. Her team’s research has been translated into a suite of cost-effective online learning resources and training programs that have been used worldwide by diverse professional groups. For example, they helped train interviewers within the Chilean judicial system with positive results.

“After years of work and effort, in October 2022, the new Law on Videotaped Interviews to prevent secondary victimization of child and adolescent victims of sexual crimes was implemented throughout Chile. Professor Powell and her team helped us provide training to the interviewers of different institutions within the Chilean judicial system, for which we are very grateful,” stated Catalina Fernández Cruzat, Executive Director of Fundación Amparo y Justicia, Chile.

Everyday examples of where interviewing skills are of benefit include managers requiring information from witnesses to decide on workplace bullying complaints, or clinicians needing to draw medical and contextual details from patients.

“I started as a teacher, then worked as a psychologist supporting survivors of child abuse which sparked a move into research on interviewing child witnesses,” Professor Powell said.

“But as we progressed, my multidisciplinary team and I found that the same core interviewing strategies could be used across a diverse range of fields including health, education, social services and workplace management – essentially any circumstance where it is crucial to pull together the correct information so as to make the right decisions and changes.”

Professor Powell’s team aim to identify which training activities best promote and sustain expertise in interviewing. They also explore the perspectives, needs and challenges of stakeholders requiring information from interviews such as prosecutors, investigators and health professionals.

The Centre team develop interviewer competency by layering research supported practical experiences with theoretical teaching on aspects such as the use of open-ended questions and non-verbal support behaviours. The methods and tools used include high-quality films depicting example interview scenarios, interactive computer exercises, mock interviews, and immediate and detailed individualised feedback from trainers.

The training moves interviewers away from interrogative interviewing styles to respectful methods that make the interviewee feel valued and heard, even when time constraints are in play. Importantly, the training looks to remove biased assumptions of witnesses (e.g., children tend to lie) and misconceptions on memory.

This assists in the collection of pertinent, accurate and complete narratives and helps avoid inconsistencies and inaccuracies that may derail decisions and have negative impacts on witnesses and/or the accused.

The Centre team found that interview training models that use multicomponent approaches led to trainees demonstrating sustained adherence in using the techniques learnt beyond nine months post training.

“I have been a police officer for over 38 years and was only ever taught to use specific questions. I have now changed my entire view on interviewing. With the knowledge I have gained from doing this course, I now use open-ended questions to gain as much information as possible first. That’s how it should be— to hear what the person has to tell me, not the bits that I think are important. I want to hear their answer; it is about them, not me!” one Police Investigator trainee said.

Professor Powell’s team utilise a circular process to implement, evaluate, and improve the training provided and to add new research-backed methods and tools as they arise.  For example, they participated in a collaboration project with Oslo Metropolitan University and SimulaMet in Norway, which resulted in the development and evaluation of a dynamic, conversational child avatar using artificial intelligence technology that can provide implicit and explicit feedback to trainees.

Revenue generated through the Centre’s courses is combined with grant, philanthropic and industry funding (approximately > 1 million in total 2023) and re-invested back into their research and training infrastructure through a not-for-profit model so as to provide societal benefit.

“We will continue to grow our research base and translate it into effective training. For example, we have recently been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant to deepen our understanding of how people successfully retain and retrieve individual episode memories from repeated experiences,” Professor Powell said. “We’ve also extended to complex global issues such as human trafficking and war crimes – there is just so much value in improving how we both conduct and train others to undertake investigative interviews.”