PT84.S1.Q9 - Police interviews

beepbooptroupe

Can someone help me understand how we can infer [A]? It says that officers deviating from cognitive interview techniques is problematic because it might make the cognitive interview less effective. I eliminated it because although the author suggests that officers deviating from the cognitive interview techniques is problematic, they doesn't say why it's problematic. And then the answer choice infers that it's problematic because of decreased effectiveness. I eliminated it because we don't know if that's the reason... it could be problematic for other reasons.

How is it an acceptable inference?

legallybrunette2000

Hi! I just read the passage for the first time and got A immediately.

My thought process is as follows: A) the author talks a great deal about how (lack of) training is such a problem as when it comes to the specific interviewing style. See line 20 where it strongly implies that lack of training results in them deviating from proper procedure. Pretty much word for word AC A.

After that, I basically keep AC A in my head as a strong contender for the answer, skim through B-E and with each of them, I just think: well, I can't actually make that inference, the passage doesn't either talk about it, or strongly support it!

I hope that helps!

anonymous8

Hello,

I used the last two sentences of the 2nd paragraph: “A problem associated with the cognitive interview is that it is a complex procedure… Because of this complexity…trained officers often deviate from the procedures specified in the cognitive interview training.”

I re-worked answer choice A in my mind. Hence: If police interviewers deviate from the procedures specified in the training, then there is reason to worry that the cognitive interview is less effective.

Think of less effective as not working as well. If there’s a problem with something (officers deviating from procedure), then there’s reason to worry that it won’t work as well (reason to worry that it is less effective). Also, answer choice A is not saying it is less effective, it is saying there’s reason to worry that is less effective. It’s a subtle difference but it makes it easier to pick answer choice A then any of the other answers.

Hope this helps!