Appendices : Appendix A
A Sample Continuum of Questions Used in Taking a Medical History from Children Alleged to Have Been Abused and Confidence in Responses
Question Type
Example
Child Response
OPEN-ENDED
A. General
Why are you here today?
Because Uncle John was mean to me.
MORE CONFIDENCE
B. Focused
What happened with Uncle John?
He hit me.
Where (on your body) did he hit you?
He hit my legs.
What did he hit you with?
A stick.
↓
C. Multiple Choice
Did he hit you with a stick, a cane, a whip or something else?
He used a stick.
↓
Did this happen in the daytime or nighttime?
In the day and night.
D. Yes/No Questions
Did he tell you not to tell?
Yes, he said not to tell my mother.
Did you have your clothes off?
No, but my pants were down.
E. Leading Questions
He pulled your pants down, didn’t he?
Yes.
CLOSE-ENDED
Didn’t he pull your pants down before he hit you?
Yes.
LESS CONFIDENCE
SOURCE: Adapted from Faller KC. A continuum of types of questions used in interviewing children alleged to have been sexually abused and confidence in responses. The Advisor. 1990; 3 (2).
This table illustrates five types of questions and that confidence in the response decreases as questions become closed-ended.
- Open-ended, general questions like "Why are you here today?" and a child's response of "Because Uncle John was mean to me." provide the most confidence in the response.
- Open-ended, focused questions such as "What happened with Uncle John?" and a response of "He hit me." or "Where (on your body) did he hit you?" and a response of "He hit my legs." or "What did he hit you with?" and a response of "A stick." provide just slightly less confidence.
- Multiple-choice questions like "Did he hit you with a stick, a cane, a whip, or something else?" and a response of "He used a stick." or "Did this happen in the daytime or nighttime?" and a response of "In the day and night." provide less confidence in the answer because the questions are no longer open-ended.
- Answers to yes/no questions like "Did he tell you not to tell?" and a response of "Yes, he said not to tell my mother." or "Did you have your clothes off?" and a response of "No, but my pants were down." provide less confidence because the questions are closed-ended.
- Questions like "He pulled your pants down, didn't he?" and a response of "Yes." or "Didn't he pull your pants down before he hit you?" and a response of "Yes." provide the least confidence in the response because they are leading questions.
