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The three objectives of this dissertation were to develop a question type model for predicting linguistic features of responses to interview questions, create a tool for linguistic analysis of documents, and use lexical bundle analysis to identify linguistic differences between fraudulent and non-fraudulent financial reports. First, The Moffitt Question Type Model (MQTM) was developed to aid in predicting linguistic features of responses to questions. It focuses on three context independent features of questions: tense (past vs. present vs. future), perspective (introspective vs. extrospective), and abstractness (concrete vs. conjectural). The MQTM was tested on responses to real-world pre-polygraph examination questions in which guilty (n = 27) and innocent (n = 20) interviewees were interviewed. The responses were grouped according to question type and the linguistic cues from each groups' transcripts were compared using independent samples t-tests with the following results: future tense questions elicited more future tense words than either past or present tense questions and present tense questions elicited more present tense words than past tense questions; introspective questions elicited more cognitive process words and affective words than extrospective questions; and conjectural questions elicited more auxiliary verbs, tentativeness words, and cognitive process words than concrete questions. Second, a tool for linguistic analysis of text documents, Structured Programming for Linguistic Cue Extraction (SPLICE), was developed to help researchers and software developers compute linguistic values for dictionary-based cues and cues that require natural language processing techniques. SPLICE implements a GUI interface for researchers and an API for developers. Finally, an analysis of 560 lexical bundles detected linguistic differences between 101 fraudulent and 101 non-fraudulent 10-K filings. Phrases such as "the fair value of," and "goodwill and other intangible assets" were used at a much higher rate in fraudulent 10-Ks. A principal component analysis reduced the number of variables to 88 orthogonal components which were used in a discriminant analysis that classified the documents with 71% accuracy. Findings in this dissertation suggest the MQTM could be used to predict features of interviewee responses in most contexts and that lexical bundle analysis is a viable tool for discriminating between fraudulent and non-fraudulent text.

This study explored external and internal factors and their effect on childrens memory of a naturalistic, potentially stressful event, namely, a dental procedure. Specifically, question format (yes/no questions versus multiple choice questions) and temporal delay (short delay versus long delay) were the external factors examined, while anxiety, temperament, distress level, working memory and previous experience were the internal factors examined. Children (N=68) aged 4-12 years and their parents participated. Prior to the procedure, children provided ratings of their current anxiety on an anxiety rating scale. Following the procedure, children provided pain ratings and were given 24 forced choice questions regarding the dental event. Parents responded to questions regarding their childs previous dental experiences and temperament via a questionnaire. The findings suggest that: (a) multiple-choice questions are more problematic than yes/no questions, (b) that younger children are more suggestible than older children, especially when asked no and absent feature questions; (c) children who report more pain and anxiety, and whose parents describe them as less sociable, evidence higher rates of suggestibility; and (d) after a two month delay, on average, children accurately recalled their pain for the dental event, however, higher trait anxiety scores were associated with higher recollection of experienced pain. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for interviewing children and for management of pain in clinical settings.

This study explored external and internal factors and their effect on childrens memory of a naturalistic, potentially stressful event, namely, a dental procedure. Specifically, question format (yes/no questions versus multiple choice questions) and temporal delay (short delay versus long delay) were the external factors examined, while anxiety, temperament, distress level, working memory and previous experience were the internal factors examined. Children (N=68) aged 4-12 years and their parents participated. Prior to the procedure, children provided ratings of their current anxiety on an anxiety rating scale. Following the procedure, children provided pain ratings and were given 24 forced choice questions regarding the dental event. Parents responded to questions regarding their childs previous dental experiences and temperament via a questionnaire. The findings suggest that: (a) multiple-choice questions are more problematic than yes/no questions, (b) that younger children are more suggestible than older children, especially when asked no and absent feature questions; (c) children who report more pain and anxiety, and whose parents describe them as less sociable, evidence higher rates of suggestibility; and (d) after a two month delay, on average, children accurately recalled their pain for the dental event, however, higher trait anxiety scores were associated with higher recollection of experienced pain. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for interviewing children and for management of pain in clinical settings.

The Effect of Comparative Tests Between Self-questioning Strategy And Cooperative Learning (Group Discussion) on Junior High School Students' Chinese Reading Comprehension Abstract The main purpose of this study was to discuss the effect of comparative tests between self-questioning strategy and cooperative learning (group discussion) on junior high school students' Chinese reading comprehension. The questions explored here were: 1. How did self-questioning strategy influence reading comprehension ability? 2. How did self-questioning strategy and the group discussion of cooperative learning improve and influence reading comprehension ability? 3. How did self-questioning strategy and the group discussion of cooperative learning affect the levels of question types? The study used experimental research method. The subjects were 50 second grade students of junior high. According to the scores of the prior test on "reading comprehension ability," students were divided into an experimental group and a control group, and each one was composed of 25 students. The instrument was "test of reading comprehension ability," and the information acquired was dealt with statistical testing on the basis of t-test. The results were as followings: 1. After receiving the teaching of "self-questioning strategy," students' reading comprehension abilities were improved. 2. After the students in the experimental group received the co-teaching of self-questioning strategy and the group discussion of cooperative learning, their scores of the posttest on "reading comprehension ability" were superior to the scores of the students in the control group. 3. After the students in the experimental group accepted the co-teaching of self-questioning strategy and the group discussion of cooperative learning, their scores of the posttest on "high-level question type" were superior to the scores of the students in the control group. Finally the study discussed the above results in more detail, and provided suggestions and references of further research concerning teaching of the reading comprehension.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how three teachers’ ways of verbally asking questions and following up student’s utterances either create opportunities or hinderances for dialogue about religious related topics for grades 5-6. This study answers these questions: 1. What types of questions does the teacher ask in the classroom? 2. What types of response does the teacher give to the students’ answers? 3. Do the questions create opportunities or hindrances for dialogue in the classroom? The method used for this study is qualitative observations which were done in three different classes. Each class was observed three times. The theories used are Michail Bakhtin’s dialogic theory and Olga Dysthe’s theories about the monologic and dialogic classroom. Dysthe’s dialogic classroom is categorized into authentic questions, follow-up and positive assessment. IRE and IRU communication patterns are also used. The result differs in each class. Teacher A created opportunities for dialogue by asking authentic and closed questions, following up the students’ answers and giving a positive assessment. A reason for this could be that she sat down together with the students while initiating interaction and showing interest in students’ experiences. Teacher B created hinderances for dialogue by only asking closed questions and giving responses that indicated if students’ answers were right or wrong. Teacher C had possibilities to create dialogue by asking open questions. Instead, they hindered dialogue because the teacher gave a response that indicated if the students’ answers were right or wrong.

Eyewitness testimony plays a crucial role in the justice system. Misidentification from eyewitnesses was reported in 70% of 300 DNA exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals (Wixted et al., 2015). Similarly, many convicts can also be set free because of juror’s faulty eyewitness recall during examination. Previous research indicated that females are more reliable in recall than men. However, these findings were not extensively examined with regards to time delay prior to the trial. Thus, it is important to systematically examine the various factors that influence eyewitness testimony. The present study was designed to empirically examine the effects of gender, interview technique, and time interval on eyewitness recall. It was hypothesized that female participants would outscore male participants in both facial and detail recall. It was also hypothesized that the cognitive interview would yield more accurate details about the crime in comparison to the standard interview. It was hypothesized that recall for participants would decay as the time interval increased. One hundred and four participants were randomly selected from a southeastern university to participate in the study. Ages of the participants ranged from 18-40 and consisted of fifty-two males and fifty-two females. They were required to complete a series of questionnaires consisting of demographics, mood measure, personality test, and standard/cognitive interviews. The results showed a significant effect between gender, interview technique, and time interval on detail recall. In addition, there was a significant main effect for interview type. There was a significant effect of gender and time interval on facial recall. It was found that extraversion significantly predicted detail recall as did agreeableness and neuroticism. The present findings further extend previous research examining the most effective interviewing techniques for eyewitness recall. It also indicated that females can accurately recall faces after a time delay in comparison to men. Furthermore, these results also clearly indicate that gender and time interval play a significant role in facial recall. Finally, the findings have practical implications for the jury selection system. For example, attorneys and judges might be inclined to choose women over men for specific cases where eyewitness details may be crucial for conviction. In addition, they may also use facial shots in order to enhance eyewitness recall. Personality measures can assist detectives to determine if a suspect is suitable for an interview. If at all possible, administering personality test for jurors may help in determining certain personality types are more prone to error.

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