THE EFFECTS OF QUESTION FORMULATION AND INFORMATION CONTENT ON THE ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS RECALL IN LIGHT OF “SCRIPT THEORY”
THE EFFECTS OF QUESTION FORMULATION AND INFORMATION CONTENT ON THE ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS RECALL IN LIGHT OF “SCRIPT THEORY”

Summary/Abstract: The reported study is part of an empirical project examining the effects of a chosen interviewing method, including the formulation and information content of questions, on an honest eyewitness recall. An experiment was carried out on 130 subjects. 50 subjects described how they imagine a typical car robbery and the remaining 80 were divided into two groups. Both groups watched the same film clip of a brazen car robbery. Subsequently, each group was asked a different set of questions about the film. The main purpose of this study was the analysis of the impact of scripts and misinformation on witnesses’ recall of an event. The findings of this study may prove particularly useful for interviewers who are committed to eliminating mistakes from witness statements.

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