How Cognitive Interviewing Can Improve Evidence Gathering in Disciplinary and Grievance Investigations.
by
Richard Payne
How Cognitive Interviewing Can Improve Evidence Gathering in Disciplinary & Grievance Investigations
Richard Payne
© Copyright Richard Payne 2011
Published by BSPS Publishing at Smashwords.
This article discusses how the cognitive interviewing technique can be adapted for internal disciplinary and grievance investigative interviews. It also outlines some of the important techniques which can be used by interviewers in order to improve the quality and accuracy of evidence received from witnesses and employees under investigation, even when a critical event may have occurred some time ago.
Although there have been significant advancements in investigative technology over the past twenty years the interview still remains one the most important tools for those conducting internal disciplinary and grievance investigations. Employers’ decisions relating to disciplinary and grievance matters are still based mainly on information provided by people (witnesses) as a result of an interview. But what happens when a witness is unable to remember important details or a specific and perhaps vital sequence of events? This can be a common problem for not only for HR practitioners but also for managers charged with internal investigations as interviews may take place some weeks or even months after an event occurred. Traditional advice relating to the use of open ended questions will prove unhelpful in such situations as the witness may wish to assist but is in effect blocked. It was for this reason the technique of cognitive interviewing was developed with the objective of providing a set of techniques and tools for interviewers with the aim of assisting them in improving witness recall.