ABSTRACT
While police interviewing training methods have been developed with the benefit of decades of research findings, other kinds of investigative interviewing used in the justice system have not been the subject of such intense scholarly interest. For the most part, these other types of interview, such as questioning by a tribunal member, or investigations into workplace regulatory non-compliance, are conducted ad hoc or with some strategies borrowed from detective training schools. This chapter focuses on the kind of research that might enable a professional community to improve their interviewing practices in a way that best suits the specific circumstances of their investigations. At the heart of such improvements we will still find the application of pragmatics and sociolinguistics, alongside the interviewing research from cognitive psychology, which has largely shaped the way modern police interviewing is conducted. However, the issue explored through this chapter is not simply the best way to ask questions, but more broadly, the best way to develop and deliver training for professional investigators. This chapter thus contributes to providing an evidence-base for a very common, but often overlooked, task undertaken by forensic linguists: delivering professional development training for workers in the justice sector.
