Relevant/Irrelevant “Test” confusion

[polyscam]

Nonombre,

I suppose the deception on the examiner's part would be the lack of full disclosure about the test.  Do you explain to your examinee's that you will be asking a series of questions in the in-test, however only certain questions will be scored while the remainder is filler?  A naive examinee believes all questions to hold the same importance, even the ridiculous, "Are the lights on in this room?" for example.

To me the R/I sounds to be more like a GKT.  

[nonombre]

Nonombre,

I suppose the deception on the examiner's part would be the lack of full disclosure about the test.  Do you explain to your examinee's that you will be asking a series of questions in the in-test, however only certain questions will be scored while the remainder is filler?  A naive examinee believes all questions to hold the same importance, even the ridiculous, "Are the lights on in this room?" for example....

Brandon,

"Are the lights on in this room?" is an example of an irrelevant question (IR).

In fact, IR's are not "filler" at all, nor are they "ridiculous," as you imply.  Irrelevant questions are inserted at the beginning of a polygraph chart to absorb the examinee's "orienting response" and are distributed throughout the test to allow the examine to return to a state of homeostasis after a physiological response to a particular question.

In addition, although I do not get into any lengthy  discussions over the specific purpose of the the IR questions, I certainly do not withhold any information regarding their use from the examinee, especially if he asks.

Now, not to sound like a "broken record," but I still fail to see how I am deceiving anybody...

Regards,

Nonombre    
 

[Marty]

The R/I is believed to have a higher false positive rate, but lower false negative rate than the PLCQT (see Matte). While it doesn't require the examiner deception of a PLCQT, to be effective, the examinee needs to believe the polygraph will be accurate in their examination and so there is a bit of chicken and egg situation here. Since the relevants are stark and obvious, many will not be sufficiently calmed by the examiner and may score sufficiently above baseline to be found deceptive. Another problem is individual differences. Early in the history of polygraphy, examiners tried various techniques to account for these variances and the PLCQT evolved as an improved approach - in spite of the obvious ethical issues involved.

One problem with both R/I and PLCQTs are that examinees who are familiar with the techniques involved may yield higher false positives on the R/I while the PLCQT may yield higher false negtatives as the test essentially changes into a DLCQT.

There is some, fairly polarized debate about the DLCQT, especially re false negatives. Much speculation, too little actual research.

Marty

[anxietyguy]

After reviewing this thread what is the best approach, showing a reaction to two different relevant questions on two different charts?Or possibly showing a reaction to an irrelevant question?
Anxiety

[anxietyguy]

I have heard of more pre-employment poly's going this way in my area for law enforcement...i dont know if reacting to two different relevant questions is the way to go..anyone have input?
Anxiety

[George W. Maschke]

anxietyguy,

The countermeasures suggested for the R/I technique in TLBTLD are based on federal scoring standards. There's no telling what scoring criteria a non-federal agency might employ. In such a case, it may be best to stick to behavioral countermeasures.