Investigator Upgrade

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a life time. What has this old Chinese proverb and the teaching methodology of Problem Based Learning got in common? In its simplest explanation problem based learning is a training method whereby a problem is set for the student and the learning comes from the way the student researches, discusses, evaluates and finally presents their findings. So instead of the trainer giving out all the information in a traditional lecture the student is asked to work it out for themselves. It is designed to leave the students with real world abilities to perform the role as opposed to spoon feeding the information which may begin to dissipate the moment they walk out of a class room.

A reliable interview is one where the subject has not been influenced by suggestion, coercion, duress or trickery. The voluntariness of an interview is often argued in our courts and many a question and sometimes the whole interview is deemed inadmissible as the court cannot rely on the responses given. Currently in Australia most investigators understand that an interview is in danger if a subject being interviewed is threatened, tricked or coerced into giving certain responses.However, what about the more subtle form of influence which is suggestion. This often comes in the form of the type of question asked. What does this mean to the investigator charged with the responsibility to interview a subject for any one of a myriad of issues from work place bullying to fraud?