Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews

Tim Grant; Jennifer Taylor; Gavin E. Oxburgh; Gary Pankhurst

doi:10.1002/9781118769133.ch2

Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews

Tim Grant, Jennifer Taylor, Gavin E. Oxburgh, Gary Pankhurst

Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

There is a proliferation of categorization schemes in the scientific literature that have mostly been developed from psychologists’ understanding of the nature of linguistic interactions. This has a led to problems in defining question types used by interviewers. Based on the principle that the overarching purpose of an interview is to elicit information and that questions can function both as actions in their own right and as vehicles for other actions, a Conversational Analysis approach was used to analyse a small number of police interviews. The analysis produced a different categorization of question types and, in particular, the conversational turns fell into two functional types: (i) Topic Initiation Questions and (ii) Topic Facilitation Questions. We argue that forensic interviewing requires a switch of focus from the ‘words’ used by interviewers in question types to the ‘function’ of conversational turns within interviews.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Communication in investigative and legal contexts
Subtitle of host publication	integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement
Editors	Gavin Oxburgh, Trond Myklebust, Tim Grant, Rebecca Milne
Publisher	Wiley-Blackwell
Pages	39-54
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-118-76913-3
ISBN (Print)	978-1-118-76923-2, 978-1-118-76922-5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118769133.ch2
Publication status	Published - Dec 2015

Publication series

Name	Series in psychology of crime, policing and law
Publisher	Wiley

Keywords

questions
linguistic analysis
interviews
function
conversation analysis

Access to Document

10.1002/9781118769133.ch2

3 Chapter (peer-reviewed)
1 Edited Book
1 Chapter

Communication in forensic contexts: future directions and conclusions
Myklebust, T., Grant, T., Milne, R. & Oxburgh, G. E., Nov 2015, Communication in investigative and legal settings: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. Oxburgh, G., Myklebust, T., Grant, T. & Milne, R. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, p. 359-366 8 p. (Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter
Communication in investigative and legal contexts: Integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement
Oxburgh, G. E. (ed.), Myklebust, T. (ed.), Grant, T. (ed.) & Milne, R. (ed.), Nov 2015, Wiley-Blackwell. 408 p. (Wiley series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law)
Research output: Book/Report › Edited Book
Communication in investigative and legal settings: introduction and contexts
Oxburgh, G., Myklebust, T., Grant, T. & Milne, R., Dec 2015, Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. Oxburgh, G., Myklebust, T., Grant, T. & Milne, R. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, p. 1-13 13 p. (Series in psychology of crime, policing and law).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Cite this

Grant, T., Taylor, J., Oxburgh, G. E., & Pankhurst, G. (2015). Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews. In G. Oxburgh, T. Myklebust, T. Grant, & R. Milne (Eds.), Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement (pp. 39-54). (Series in psychology of crime, policing and law). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118769133.ch2

Grant, Tim ; Taylor, Jennifer ; Oxburgh, Gavin E. et al. / Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews. Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. editor / Gavin Oxburgh ; Trond Myklebust ; Tim Grant ; Rebecca Milne. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015. pp. 39-54 (Series in psychology of crime, policing and law).

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title = "Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews",

abstract = "There is a proliferation of categorization schemes in the scientific literature that have mostly been developed from psychologists{\textquoteright} understanding of the nature of linguistic interactions. This has a led to problems in defining question types used by interviewers. Based on the principle that the overarching purpose of an interview is to elicit information and that questions can function both as actions in their own right and as vehicles for other actions, a Conversational Analysis approach was used to analyse a small number of police interviews. The analysis produced a different categorization of question types and, in particular, the conversational turns fell into two functional types: (i) Topic Initiation Questions and (ii) Topic Facilitation Questions. We argue that forensic interviewing requires a switch of focus from the {\textquoteleft}words{\textquoteright} used by interviewers in question types to the {\textquoteleft}function{\textquoteright} of conversational turns within interviews.",

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Grant, T, Taylor, J, Oxburgh, GE & Pankhurst, G 2015, Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews. in G Oxburgh, T Myklebust, T Grant & R Milne (eds), Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. Series in psychology of crime, policing and law, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118769133.ch2

Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews. / Grant, Tim; Taylor, Jennifer; Oxburgh, Gavin E. et al.
Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. ed. / Gavin Oxburgh; Trond Myklebust; Tim Grant; Rebecca Milne. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015. p. 39-54 (Series in psychology of crime, policing and law).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

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AU - Grant, Tim

AU - Taylor, Jennifer

AU - Oxburgh, Gavin E.

AU - Pankhurst, Gary

PY - 2015/12

Y1 - 2015/12

N2 - There is a proliferation of categorization schemes in the scientific literature that have mostly been developed from psychologists’ understanding of the nature of linguistic interactions. This has a led to problems in defining question types used by interviewers. Based on the principle that the overarching purpose of an interview is to elicit information and that questions can function both as actions in their own right and as vehicles for other actions, a Conversational Analysis approach was used to analyse a small number of police interviews. The analysis produced a different categorization of question types and, in particular, the conversational turns fell into two functional types: (i) Topic Initiation Questions and (ii) Topic Facilitation Questions. We argue that forensic interviewing requires a switch of focus from the ‘words’ used by interviewers in question types to the ‘function’ of conversational turns within interviews.

AB - There is a proliferation of categorization schemes in the scientific literature that have mostly been developed from psychologists’ understanding of the nature of linguistic interactions. This has a led to problems in defining question types used by interviewers. Based on the principle that the overarching purpose of an interview is to elicit information and that questions can function both as actions in their own right and as vehicles for other actions, a Conversational Analysis approach was used to analyse a small number of police interviews. The analysis produced a different categorization of question types and, in particular, the conversational turns fell into two functional types: (i) Topic Initiation Questions and (ii) Topic Facilitation Questions. We argue that forensic interviewing requires a switch of focus from the ‘words’ used by interviewers in question types to the ‘function’ of conversational turns within interviews.

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Grant T, Taylor J, Oxburgh GE, Pankhurst G. Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews. In Oxburgh G, Myklebust T, Grant T, Milne R, editors, Communication in investigative and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement. Wiley-Blackwell. 2015. p. 39-54. (Series in psychology of crime, policing and law). Epub 2015 Oct 2. doi: 10.1002/9781118769133.ch2

Exploring types and functions of questions in police interviews

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

Access to Document

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Research output

Communication in forensic contexts: future directions and conclusions

Communication in investigative and legal contexts: Integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement

Communication in investigative and legal settings: introduction and contexts

Cite this