Running Head INTRODUCTION SECTION AND HYPOTHESISINTRODUCTION SE.docx

Running Head: INTRODUCTION SECTION AND
HYPOTHESIS
INTRODUCTION SECTION AND HYPOTHESIS 3
Introduction Section and Hypothesis
Irving Toruno
Florida International University
Social media holds out the promise of connection. Looking at
platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram among
others, people of different ages, gender and race create
networks of friends which helps to get updates on daily
activities and build a sense of community. On such a platform
as Facebook, it’s usual that a person will have hundreds of
friends connected to. However, this is different from real life
where a person has very few friends who can be relied on. Many
people including Pope Francis and singer Selena Gomez have
always warned people on spending too much time on social
media by refereeing to it as detrimental (Hunter 2019). Pope
Francis argues that it’s not healthy to rely on the internet to
know what’s happening in the world but instead people should
walk door to door and talk to each other.
On the contrary, young people have argued that social media
provides a real connection. Research showed that social media
was helpful to kids as they can connect, share and learn online.
Sites such as twitter shed light on kids on the important issues
across the world as well as exposing them to people from
different parts. This enlightens their thoughts as they respond
positively to such tweets. Social media helps teens strengthen
friendship, get a sense of belonging and have online acceptance
(Kampf 2018). The purpose of this research is to investigate if
social media made people more or less connected having in
mind all the arguments on the positive and negative impacts of

social media.
Understanding whether social media made people more or less
connected is a concept that requires thorough research as the
pros and cons outweigh each other. Considering the advantages
of social media, we find that people can find and meet online;
business people can reach clients directly without the
involvement of third-party, advertising, and search engine
optimization on companies is made easier. On the
disadvantages, social media leads to cheating and relationship
issues, deaths as people to copy what they see on the internet,
drugs and alcohol abuse among other things. To clearly
understand the effect of social media on people’s connectivity,
more research needs to be done on the users of the internet.
This research project is purposely made for teens and young
adults who are mostly involved in social media. Despite social
media being a platform for everyone even the children, young
adults and teens are the victims of social media. According to
statistics, 93% of online users are young adults aged 18-29 who
compete equally with teens aged 12-17 as compared to 39%
adults aged 30 and above (Staksrud 2016). Through the internet,
these people connect with friends on different platforms who
help each other in different ways. Some of the internet users are
students who connected with their fellows for assignments and
discussions while others are business people. However, the link
between young people is always not healthy as some end up
engaging in immoral behaviors hence contributing to harm in
the society.
Any assignment usually undertaken has the outcome
expectations. This research is intended to give a precise
understanding of whether social media has made people more or
less connected. As previous researches have been done on the
same, it has never been concluded to what extent social media
affects people connectivity due to the numerous advantages and
disadvantages associated with it hence the purpose of this
research. This research is designed to assess the hypothesis that
social media has made people more or less connected.

References
Hunter, M. (2019). Connecting Generations, Connecting
Disciplines: Intergenerational (Im)Possibilities in Popular
Media. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 11(1), 165-
171. doi: 10.1353/jeu.2019.0009
Kampf, C. (2018). Connecting Corporate and Consumer Social
Responsibility Through Social Media Activism. Social Media +
Society, 4(1), 205630511774635. doi:
10.1177/2056305117746357
Staksrud, E. (2016). Youth 2.0: Social Media and
Adolescence—Connecting, Sharing and Empowering. Journal Of
Children And Media, 10(4), 515-518. doi:
10.1080/17482798.2016.1234730
1
Case Grading Procedure
Your grade from each case analysis is determined using the
following assessment rubrics:
-Making Rubric - EDR
Business Writing Assessment Rubric – WAR
Review each of the rubrics below to see what is expected of
you.
Your grade will be calculated as follows:

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50
) + 0.15 (
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70
)
The total case grade will be out of 50 points.
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2
Ethical Decision-Making Rubric
Evaluators are encouraged to assign a zero to any work sample
or collection of work that does not meet minimum performance
levels.
Case Analysis Steps Standards Points
Ethical Issues:
Issue Identification All ethical issues are
properly identified (4

points)
Most ethical issues are
points)
Some ethical issues are
properly identified (2 – 1
points)
No ethical issue is
points)
Issue Definitions/Descriptions
and Factual Support
Of those ethical issues
identified, all are
adequately defined/
described and supported
by case facts (6 points)

identified, most issues
identified are adequately
defined/ described and
supported by case facts (5
– 4 points)
identified, some issues
identified are adequately
defined/ described and
– 1 points)
No issue identified is
adequately
defined/described and
points)
Stakeholder Analysis:

Stakeholder Identification All key stakeholders are
points)
Most key stakeholders are
points)
Some key stakeholders are
points)
No key stakeholder is
points)
Identification of Stakes Of those stakeholders
identified, all important
stakes are properly listed
(4 points)
Of those stakeholders
identified, most important

(3 points)
identified, some important
(2 – 1 points)
identified, no important
(0 point)
Ethical Decisions
All short- and long-term
ethical issues are resolved
through the use of ethical
decisions (10 points)
Most short- and/or long-
term ethical issues are
resolved through the use

of ethical decisions (9 – 6
points)
Some short- and/or long-
term ethical issues are
resolved through the use
of ethical decisions (5 – 1
points)
Alternate decisions or
unethical decisions are
used to attempt to resolve
the ethical issues
identified (0 points)
Nonconsequentialist Analysis:
Subcharacteristic Identification
and Definition
Four of the top
subcharacteristics are

properly identified and
properly defined (4 points)
Three of the top
Two of the top
One of the top
subcharacteristics is
properly defined (1 point)
Subcharacteristic Justification
All subcharacteristics are
properly used to justify
why chosen decisions are

ethical (6 points)
Most of the
ethical (5 – 3 points)
Some of the
ethical (2 – 1 points)
None of the
ethical (0 points)
Consequentialist Analysis:
Stakeholder Stake Categorization All stakes identified in the

stakeholder analysis are
properly categorized as a
benefit and/or cost (8
points)
Most stakes identified in
the stakeholder analysis
are properly categorized as
a benefit and/or cost (7 – 5
points)
Several stakes identified in
the stakeholder analysis
are properly categorized as
a benefit and/or cost 4 – 1
(points)
No stakes identified in the
stakeholder analysis are
properly categorized as a
benefit and/or cost (0

points)
Identification of Decision Benefits/
Costs
All benefits and/or costs
of decisions are properly
categorized (2 points)
Several benefits and/or
costs of decisions are
properly categorized (1
points)
No benefits and/or costs of
decisions are properly
categorized (0 points)
Total
3

School of Business Writing Assessment Rubric:
This written assessment rubric is designed around business
writing assignments, including reports. The rubric is sectioned
in three parts: correctness, style, and content. Each item
in the table is evaluated on a scale of 5 – 1, with 5 being the
highest and 1 being the lowest.
Correctness: This phase of writing is actually editing. The
correctness phase ensures that writing conforms to standard
English and document formatting. This phase identifies
adherence to grammar, spelling, punctuation, reading level, and
document formatting based on standard business document
formats.
Grammar
5 Writer establishes credibility with nearly perfect grammar.
4 Document contains some errors in grammar, but none that
challenge reader understanding.
3 Document contains several errors in grammar that begin to
hurt the writer’s credibility.
2 Document contains frequent or persuasive errors in grammar
that create barriers to reader understanding and seriously hurt
the writer’s credibility.
1 Document contains excessive errors in grammar and destroys

Spelling
5 Writer establishes credibility with nearly perfect spelling.
4 Document contains some spelling errors, but none that
3 Document contains several spelling errors that begin to hurt
2 Document contains frequent or persuasive spelling errors that
create barriers to reader understanding and seriously hurt the
writer’s credibility.
1 Document contains excessive spelling errors and destroys the
Punctuation (using U.S. English rules)
5 Writer establishes credibility with nearly perfect punctuation.
4 Document contains some errors in punctuation, but none that
3 Document contains several errors in punctuation that begin to
2 Document contains frequent or persuasive errors in
punctuation that create barriers to reader understanding and
seriously hurt the writer’s credibility.
1 Document contains excessive errors in punctuation and
destroys the writer’s credibility.

Reading Level
5 Writer establishes credibility with words that are on a level
that is understandable to the intended audience.
4 Document contains parts that have reading level errors, but
none that challenge reader understanding.
3 Document contains several reading level errors that begin to
2 Document contains frequent or persuasive reading level
errors that create barriers to reader understanding and seriously
1 Document contains excessive errors reading level that
Document Format (Design and Appearance)
5 Document uses design elements (white space, line spacing,
indents, margins, titles and sub-titles, font size and style, etc.)
that follow standard business
formats for the type of document assigned.
4 Document is clean, but the appearance could be improved by
more closely following and adhering to standard business
formats for the type of document
assigned.
3 Document has an amateurish look to it and/or is in need of a
more professional appearance that follows standard document
formats for the type of document
assigned. The audience may be confused.

2 Document appears sloppy and unprofessional, and that
sloppiness will certainly cause the audience to be confused.
1 Document looks as if the writer does not care about the
appearance. The audience is completely confused and the
appearance may even be misleading.
4
Style: This phase of writing goes beyond correctness. This
phase involves evaluating the student work for word choice
(choosing the right words), audience, writing effective
sentences, developing logical paragraphs, and setting an
appropriate overall tone.
Words
5 Document uses words that are clear, concrete, vigorous,
concise, and positive (when appropriate).
4 Document uses words are mostly clear, concrete, vigorous,
concise and positive, but no word usage errors that challenge
the reader’s understanding or hurt the
3 Document contains several errors in word usage that begin to

2 Document contains frequent or pervasive word usage errors
that create barriers to understanding and seriously hurt the
1 Document contains excessive errors in word usage that
Audience
5 Document is written for a clearly defined audience and has
addressed that audience expertly and the writer has expertly
followed the directions of the
assignment/task.
4 Document audience is clear and the writer has done a good
job of addressing the intended audience.
3 Document’s treatment of the audience is somewhat
confusing; the writer does not seem to understand the audience
of the document and may not have clearly
understood the assignment/task.
2 Document’s treatment of the audience appears unprofessional
and/or it is not clear who is being addressed, and the writer has
not followed the directions for
this assignment/task.
1 Document makes no effort to connect with an audience.
Sentence Style: Flow of Writing
5 Document uses clear, concise writing, making it easy to read.
The writer used a variety of sentence types that effectively
subordinate ideas (complex),

coordinate relationships (compound), and add emphasis
(simple).
4 Document uses a writing style and sentence structure that is
good, but perhaps the writer could have written more clearly
and/or written more concisely.
3 Document has some awkward and clumsy style, and/or the
writer uses sentence structure that is unsophisticated.
2 Document has little coherent structure in the sentence style
and is confusing.
1 Document’s sentence structure and sentence style is
completely disorganized.
Paragraph Development
5 Document flow within paragraphs is logical and consistent,
developing a single idea consistently. The writer uses effective
transitional words, pronouns,
repetition when appropriate, parallel structure and controls
paragraph length..
4 Document flow within paragraphs sometimes lacks consistent
and logical development or sometimes overlooks effective
transitional words, pronouns, repetition
when appropriate , parallel structure and paragraph length, but
does not create barriers to understanding and does not seriously
3 Document flow within paragraphs is sometimes confusing,
and may hurt the writer’s credibility.
` 2 Document paragraph development has little coherent

structure and is confusing, and will hurt the writer’s credibility.
1 Document paragraph development is completely
disorganized.
Overall Tone
5 Document is confident, courteous and sincere, and
nondiscriminatory.
4 Document is mostly confident, courteous and sincere, and
nondiscriminatory, but does not hurt the writer’s credibility.
3 Document contains several errors in tone that begin to hurt
2 Document contains frequent or pervasive tone errors that
create barriers to understanding and hurt the writer’s
credibility.
1 Document contains excessive errors in tone that destroys the
5
Content: This phase of writing includes the following: is the
content appropriate for the purpose of the assignment; is the
purpose clear to the audience; is the writing sensitive to the
needs of the reader; is all of information necessary; is any

needed information missing; and evidence (ethics)?
Appropriate Purpose
5 Document is appropriate for the purpose of the assignment.
4 Document mostly identifies the purpose, but does not hurt the
3 Document identifies the purpose, but fails to completely
associate the purpose with the assignment and begins to hurt the
2 Document purpose is confusing and does not address the
assignment effectively.
1 Document fails to identify the purpose.
Sensitivity to Audience Needs
5 Document is sensitive to the needs of the audience and the
assignment.
4 Document is mostly sensitive to the needs of the audience
and the assignment, but does not hurt the writer’s credibility.
3 Document begins to lack sensitivity to the audience and the
assignment needs, and may hurt the writer’s credibility.
2 Document need is confusing and does not address the
assignment effectively.
1 Document fails meet the audience and assignment needs.

Content
5 Document contains all necessary content for the purpose of
the assignment.
4 Document mostly includes all necessary content, but does not
3 Document omits some content for the purpose of the
assignment, and begins to hurt the writer’s credibility.
2 Document omits enough content to effectively complete the
purpose of the assignment.
1 Document fails to include major portions of required content
to complete the assignment.
Evidence (Ethics)
5 Document has excellent use of research and sources, helping
strengthen/build the document’s main point(s) with this
material.
4 Document makes good use of research and sources; in a few
places the document’s main point(s) could have been
strengthened with additional evidence.
3 Document would be substantially strengthened with
more/better evidence, and/or the evidence presented is
formatted in an incorrect, sloppy, or distracting way.
2 Document is weak because of the lack of evidence and
support, and/or the evidence used is formatted so poorly that
it’s difficult to tell what is cited.

1 Document’s use of evidence is unacceptable for a college-
level writer.
Sample Case: A Domestic Garment Company
You are on the management team of a rapidly growing,
privately-held apparel company that had
$80 million in sales last year and is projecting $150 million for
next year. The company’s
operations are entirely U.S.-based, an anomaly in an industry
that has moved almost all
manufacturing to foreign countries in search of cheap labor.
Your company has succeeded by
targeting a niche market that will pay more for fashionable
styles, making the speed and flexibility
of operations more important than the price. Your company is
also unique in its employee
policies. Poor working conditions are common at many apparel
factories in the U.S. and abroad,
and the industry is besieged by public criticism of labor
practices. Yet a fundamental tenet of your
company is the belief that apparel manufacturing should be
profitable without exploiting workers.
Management has worked hard since the company’s inception to
treat employees as well as
possible, and it has developed a reputation for these efforts.
This summer your team found the company could not keep pace
with orders. You added a second

shifty and hired 1,000 new sewers to staff it, bringing the total
number of sewers to 3,000. During
the summer months, all employees worked full-time (eight-hour
shifts, five per week) and often
overtime to meet sales needs and replenish dwindling
inventories.
The date is September 1 and it has become clear that the
company’s inventory is growing too
large. Sales across the industry are usually slow during the
winter months, and you know the
company must slow its production. Each of the 3,000 sewers
assembles an average of 20 dozen
pieces per day. Based on projected orders and the maximum
inventory you can afford to carry,
production cannot exceed 4,000,000 dozen pieces between
October 1 and April 1. Therefore, you
must determine how to reduce your actual production over that
six-month period to only two-
thirds of full capacity. Wages for sewers are not based on the
number of pieces they sew. The
efficiency of production at your company is partly responsible
for the high wages workers earn.
Typical industry practice in the U.S. and abroad is to lay-off
excess labor for the winter season,
with no severance pay or other assistance and no promise of
rehire. Many of your sewers have
lost their jobs elsewhere during the slow season for several
years. However, if your company
made such a move it would contradict the company’s
philosophy regarding the treatment of
employees as valued partners. Laying workers off seems like it
would be a significant defeat in
this respect, with possible repercussions in employee motivation
and public relations. Also, your

team has invested several thousand dollars in training each
employee, and you are concerned that
new sewers may not be skilled enough to meet the steep climb
in orders anticipated in the spring.
If workers are laid off, there is no guarantee that you will be
able to rehire the same people in the
spring. However, the company cannot afford to pay workers to
do nothing for six months, and
many workers will likely return to the company if they fail to
match your wages or working
conditions elsewhere.
1
Assume you are the manager that must address the company’s
excess labor problem during the
upcoming period of slow sales (i.e., you are the decision-
maker). What would you do now? Keep
in mind, there is no union and there are no other specific
policies or agreements that mandate the
basis (e.g., seniority) for prioritizing which sewers might be
affected by your decision. Analyze
and format your analysis according to the case instructions
given in class.
Sample Answer
Step 1: Ethical Issue(s)
One ethical issue in this case is compliance with the Worker
Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (WARN). As discussed in Chapter 8, WARN
protects workers, their families,
and communities by requiring employers to provide notification
60 calendar days in advance of

plant closings and mass layoffs. A covered mass layoff occurs
when 50 to 499 employees are
affected during any 30-day period at a single employment site,
if these employees represent at
least 33 percent of the employer’s workforce where the layoff
will occur, and the layoff results in
an employment loss for more than six months. If the layoff
affects 500 or more workers, the 33
percent rule does not apply. It is now September 1 and it has
become clear that the company’s
inventory is growing too large. I presently employ 3000 sewers
and must reduce the capacity by
two-thirds during the months of October – March. If I choose to
reduce the overcapacity by
laying off a proportionate number of sewers, this would result
in approximately 1000 sewers
temporarily losing their job. Since this would qualify as a mass
layoff under WARN, the earliest I
could provide the minimum 60 day’s notice and then layoff
1000 sewers would be November 1.
Therefore, I must consider the requirements of WARN when
making my decisions.
Another ethical issue in this case concerns the ethical process of
dismissing employees through
layoffs. Also in Chapter 8, the authors state that before
dismissing an employee, management
should follow a rational and unbiased decision-making process
and analyze carefully the reasons
leading to that decision. The organization must ask itself
whether its treatment of the employee
follows the appropriate procedures for that type of discharge. In
addition, the company must
guard against preferential treatment. Although I am
contemplating reducing the company’s
overcapacity through layoffs, I must carefully analyze the

situation keeping in mind that one of the
fundamental tenets of my company is the belief that apparel
manufacturing should be profitable
without exploiting workers. Management has worked hard since
the company’s inception to treat
employees as well as possible, and it has developed a good
reputation for these efforts. Therefore,
as an ethical manager I need to carefully analyze the situation
taking into account the effects of
my decision to solve the excess capacity problem on the key
stakeholders while making sure my
decision solves the problem.
Step 2: Key Stakeholder Analysis
Manager/Decision Maker (Me)
1. I hope to find a way to effectively reduce production capacity
to only two-thirds of full
capacity for the months of October through March.
2
2. I hope to maintain as much speed and flexibility of
operations as possible since this is of vital
importance to our organization.
3. I hope to uphold one of my company’s fundamental beliefs of
being profitable without
exploiting workers.
4. I am concerned that new sewers may not be skilled enough to
meet the steep climb in orders
anticipated in the spring.

5. I fear a poor decision will demotivate my present employees.
6. I fear a poor decision will result in negative public relations
for our company.
7. I want to make a decision that shows my superiors that I am a
capable manager.
Sewers
8. They fear losing their job and having no income from
October through March.
9. If they do not lose their job, they fear having their wages
reduced since production must be
cut and they are paid on a piece rate basis.
Shareholders/Owners
10. They hope to maximize the return on their investment which
usually translates into increased
profits.
Company
11. It hopes to maintain its level of profitability (it cannot
afford to pay workers to do nothing
for six months).
12. It does not want to exploit workers.
Customers
13. They desire quality, fashionable clothing.
Community
14. Local businesses fear losing business due to the loss of
income of laid-off workers or the
reduced income of all workers if there is no layoff.

Step 3: Decision(s) and Analysis
Decision(s):
Decision #1: I would gather the 3000 sewers together in a
meeting and tell them of the need to
reduce capacity to only two-thirds of full capacity for six
months. I would then tell them that each
sewer’s pay will be reduced up to one-third in amount for the
six-month period. I would also tell
the sewers that if any person cannot take such a drastic cut in
pay, those persons will be laid-off
and 60 days thereby qualifying for state unemployment benefits.
I would also tell those sewers
who chose to be laid-off that they would have hiring preference
when sales increased after the
slow winter months. (Note the amount of reduced pay for the
remaining sewers would depend on
how many sewers chose to be laid-off thereby increasing the
work for those who chose to remain,
and the cost savings generated by Decision #2 below.)
3
Decision #2: I would gather managers and administrative
personnel whom I had authority over an
offer them the same deal as the sewers: they could either be
laid-off with the ability to draw state
unemployment benefits or continue working at a reduced pay
level which would depend on how
much cost savings are generated by this decision and Decisions
#1 and #3. Any manager or
administrative personnel who chose to be laid-off would also
have hiring preference when sales
increased after the slow winter months.

Decision #3: I would tell each group of employees at their
respective meetings that I plan on
continuing to work for the company at up to one-third less pay
for the six-month time period.
How These Decisions Resolve the Ethical Issue: The ethical
issues dealt with complying with the
WARN Act and how I should address my company’s excess
labor problem during the upcoming
period of slow sales. By asking employees to work at one-third
less pay, I avoid laying off those
employees and the violating the WARN Act. Those employees
who do choose to be laid-off will
be given 60 days notice before the layoff becomes effective
which also complies with the WARN
Act. Finally, by giving employees the choice of continuing to
work at reduced pay, I am using
layoffs as a last resort. By asking all employees of the
organization, including myself, to work at
reduced pay instead of just the sewers, I am treating all workers
fairly.
Nonconsequentialist Analysis of Decisions
Integrity: Consistency between our stated values and behavior;
demonstrating the courage to do
the right thing regardless of the costs (a.k.a. moral courage). All
of my decisions show that I
acted with integrity, but especially Decision #3. By voluntarily
taking a pay cut along with the
other employees, my behavior is consistent with the stated
values of my company even though
this will cost me a significant amount of money. I am doing the
right thing even though it is going
to cost me up to one-third of my salary.
Autonomy: Exercise authority in a way that provides others

with information they need. Decisions
#1 and #2 show that I have provided others with the information
they need to make an informed
decision. In Decision #1, I explained the need to reduce
production costs to the sewers and gave
them the option of being laid off or working at a reduced rate.
Similarly, in Decision #2, I
explained the same situation and gave the same options to my
managers and administrative
personnel.
Loyalty: A special moral responsibility to promote and protect
the interests of certain people,
organizations, etc. In this situation, I have a moral
responsibility to all of my key stakeholders to
protect their interests the best I can given the situation.
Decisions #1, #2, and #3 financially hurt
the sewers, managers, administrative personnel, and myself, but
this harm is spread evenly over all
of these stakeholders instead of just one stakeholder.
Impartiality: Rules are applied equally among every human
being involved or affected—no matter
who the human being is—or what his or her relationship is with
the person administering the
rules. Again, Decisions #1, #2, and #3 spread evenly the
financial harm to the sewers, managers,
4
administrative personnel, and myself. I could have simply
allowed the sewers to bear the brunt of
the cutbacks, but that would violate my company “rule” not to
exploit workers thereby also

violating the impartiality subcharacteristic.
Consequentialist Analysis of Decisions
Costs:
2. Some speed and flexibility will be lost to the extent that
sewers choose to be laid-off under
Decision #1.
5. All three of my decisions will cause a reduction in employee
pay, no matter what option is
chosen, which will have some demotivating effect.
9. Sewers who choose to stay based on Decision #1 will have
their wages reduced.
14. All three of my decisions will reduce total employee income
thereby harming local
businesses.
Decision #2: Managers and administrative personnel will also
have their income reduced up to
one-third or be laid-off.
Decision #3: I will have my income reduced by up to one-third.
Benefits:
1. All three of my decisions effectively reduce production
capacity to only two-thirds of full
capacity for the months of October through March.
2. Most of the speed and flexibility will be retained because I
feel that most workers will choose
the option of reduced pay over being laid off in Decision #1.
3. All three of my decisions uphold one of my company’s
fundamental beliefs of being profitable

without exploiting workers.
4. In Decisions #1 and #2, I believe most of my present workers
will choose the option of
reduced pay over being laid off therefore requiring the hiring of
few new workers in the
spring.
6. I believe my three innovative decisions where I treated
sewers, management, and myself the
same will garner positive public relations for our company.
7. Although somewhat risky, I feel my three innovative
decisions will more than show my
superiors that I am a capable manager.
8. Since Decision #1 gives sewers the option of keeping their
job or being laid off, they will get
to keep their job if they want it.
10. All three of my decisions maintain current company
profitability thereby allowing
shareholders to continue to maximize the return on their
investment.
11. All three of my decisions allow the company to retain its
level of profitability since
production capacity will be reduced by one-third.
12. None of my decisions exploit the workers.
13. Since I believe most sewers will elect to keep their job
under Decision #1, we will retain most
of our quality sewers thereby allowing us to continue to meet
customer needs for quality,
fashionable clothing.

Decisions #1 and #2: Since laid-off employees will be given re-
hiring preference after the
slowdown, we will be able to rehire mostly former employees
who have already been trained
5
and know the company. This policy should help maintain morale
and productivity both in the
short-term and long-term.
Decision #3: Since I am willing to reduce my pay along with my
coworkers, I believe they will
view me in a more favorable light leading to enhanced team
cohesiveness and higher job
satisfaction.
Analysis:
The benefits clearly outweigh the costs in this situation.
Although our company will lose some
flexibility and motivation of our workforce during the
downturn, this is far less than if the sewers
were simply laid off. In return, our company will be able to
remain profitable without exploiting
workers, maintain most of its flexibility, maintain a highly
skilled and motivated workforce over
the long-term, and meet our customer and community demands
and obligations.
6

Case #2: Farmwood National Bank
As a commercial loan officer-trainee at Farmwood National
Bank, Adam’s future looked very
bright. He had recently completed a series of credit analysis
exams, earning the highest score in
his training group and capturing the attention of the bank’s
senior commercial loan officers. In
the second phase of his training program, Adam was promoted
to a financial analyst’s position
and assigned to work for Mary Ryan, one of the bank’s most
productive commercial loan
officers. Like Adam, Mary had earned the highest score on the
analysis exams among her
training group five years ago, and she and Adam quickly
became a team to be reckoned with
inside the bank’s corporate banking division.
In the first few months of his new assignment, Adam quickly
grew to admire his new boss. In
most cases, when he evaluated the creditworthiness of a new
customer for Mary, she readily
agreed with his analysis and praised his attention to detail.
However, one recent loan
application left Adam totally confused. Evaluating a request
from Mitchell Foods, Inc., for a $5
million short-term loan to finance inventory expansion, Adam
noted that the firm was
dangerously over leveraged. Mitchell Foods represented a retail
grocery chain with 35 stores
located in the greater metropolitan area served by Farmwood
National, and the firm was
financing its retail outlets with operating leases. Unlike
financial leases, operating leases only
appear in the notes accompanying the firm’s financial

statements, and Mitchell Foods’ current
balance sheet gave the appearance of far less leverage than the
firm actually carried.
Adam promptly noted this fact in a memorandum of concern
that he forwarded to Mary for
inclusion in the Mitchell Foods credit file. Much to his surprise,
Mary discounted the problem
and told Adam to destroy the memo. After the bank’s senior
credit committee approved the
Mitchell Foods loan request, Mary defended her position by
telling Adam that the issue of
operating lease leverage never surfaced during the credit
committee meeting.
In spite of Mary’s reassurances, Adam knew from his days in
credit school that Mitchell Foods’
operating lease liability was handled improperly. While
pondering this problem over coffee in
the employee cafeteria, Adam overheard Mary talking excitedly
among a group of young
commercial lenders. It seems she had just received word that
her personal mortgage loan
application at Bay Street Savings and Loan had been approved,
and the terms of this loan were
most attractive. The savings and loan willingly waived its
normal down payment requirement
and gave Mary 100 percent, fixed-rate financing of 25 years at 2
percent below the going rate
of interest on fixed-rate mortgage loans.
Given his recent credit analysis, Adam recalled that the
president of Mitchell Foods was also
Chairman of the Board at Bay Street Savings. He began to
wonder whether Mary’s actions as a
commercial loan officer had been compromised by her personal

financial affairs, or whether he
was simply thinking too much. After all, Mary was an
outstanding commercial loan officer, and
she was his mentor.
Assuming you are Adam, what would you do?
1
Case Instructions
Overall Instructions
1. When using material from the chapter, outline, and/or
lectures, remember that you do not
have to cite any material quoted from these sources in this
course.
2. Each case is an INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT, not a group
assignment. I expect your
answers to be your own thoughts and written in your own
words! (See the discussion in
your Syllabus regarding ECU’s Academic Integrity Policy.)
3. Save your file as a Word 2003 document (“.doc”), Word 2007
document (“.docx”), Word

2010 document (“.docx”), Word 2013 (“.docx”) or in “rtf”
format. DO NOT USE
MICROSOFT WORKS OR SAVE YOUR FILE IN ANY OTHER
FORMAT. I WILL
NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS YOUR FILE AND THEREFORE
WOULD HAVE TO
GIVE YOU A GRADE OF “0.”
4. Save the file as “CaseX” and then your last name, first name
initial, and middle initial. For
example, my last name is obviously “Jones,” my first name
initial is “C,” and my middle
initial is “C.” Therefore, I would save my Case 1 file as
“Case1ScottMD”; my Case 2 file as
“Case2ScottMD”; and my Case 3 file as “Case3ScottMD.” If
you do not have a middle
name, enter your first name initial twice. If you have more than
one middle name, use the
initial of your first middle name only. DO NOT LEAVE
SPACES IN YOUR FILE
NAME because it prevents me from properly archiving your
file.
5. Type your answers according to the “Formatting Instructions”
above. (Instructor’s Note:
Failure to following the format when completing this

assignment can cost you a significant
number of points). Then, save your file according to
instructions 3 – 4 above,
PROOFREAD YOUR PAPER (grammatical errors in your paper
can cost you significant
points), then submit it BEFORE the deadline as shown on your
Blackboard Calendar.
6. Submit your file by clicking on the “Exercise/Case
Assignments” Tab in the left-hand frame
in Blackboard. Then click on the assignment titled “Case X”
and scroll down until you see
the words “Attach File” and the buttons to the right titled
“Browse My Computer” and
“Browse Course.” Click the “Browse My Computer” button and
attach your file (DO NOT
type your answer to this exercise in the “Submission” text box).
When you see that your file
has been properly attached, click the “Submit” button. (To
access each case assignment
you must have scored at least a 90% on Chapter 10's Practice
Quiz.)

2
Formatting Instructions
Step 1: Ethical Issue(s) (10 points)
1. Use one paragraph to tell me what your ethical issue is and
why? If you have more than one
ethical issue, write and explain each issue in a separate
paragraph?
2. In the first sentence of your paragraph, simply tell me what
the ethical problem/issue was in
this case without explaining why?
3. In the next sentences of your paragraph, describe the ethical
issue using information from
your book, outlines, and/or lectures? Also state the chapter from
your book that supports
your answer? (Note: Ethical issues in the cases you do in this
class will come from
Chapters 5 – 10.)
4. In the next sentences of your paragraph, use facts from the
case to support your answer?
5. In the final sentence of your paragraph, use a concluding
sentence to wrap everything up?

6. CAUTION: Do not make any decisions at this time. You are
simply identifying and
explaining the ethical issue(s) facing you as the decision-maker
at this point. In addition, do
not discuss ethical issues facing others in the case—again, I am
only concerned with
whether you can identify the issues facing you as the decision-
maker.
Step 2: Stakeholder Analysis (10 points)
1. Starting with the decision-maker (you), identify and list in
sentence form ALL your
stakes in the decision to be made. Stakes are what you hope to
gain, fear losing, or want
given the situation and the decision or decisions you must
eventually make. THEY ARE
NOT DECISIONS.
2. Identify the other key stakeholders as specifically as possible
and then identify and list in
sentence form NO MORE THAN TWO important stakes facing
each key stakeholder. Key
stakeholders are individuals or groups that are essential to
solving the ethical issue(s)
identified in Step 1 above. (Instructor’s Hint: They are usually,
but not always, mentioned in

the case so use that as a starting point.)
3. Explain each stake for each stakeholder in a separate
sentence and make sure you use
complete, grammatically correct sentences.
4. SEQUENTIALLY NUMBER YOUR STAKES (see the sample
case and answers).
Step 3: Decision(s) and Analysis
Decision(s) (10 points)
1. Determine what the most ethical decision or decisions are
that resolve all of the ethical
issues you identified in Step 1. List and describe each decision
in a separate paragraph
labeling them sequentially (e.g., Decision #1, Decision #2, etc.)
as shown in the sample case
and answers.
2. VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you do not make alternate
decisions. Alternate
decisions are “either-or” decisions. For example, if I stated in
the sample case that my
Decision #1 was to lay off one-third of the sewers and my
Decision #2 was to cut all sewers’
pay by one-third, these would be alternate decisions in this

case. There is no way to
implement both decisions at the same time and, therefore, no
way to analyze which decision
is the most ethical.
3. After listing and describing all of your decisions, explain
how they resolve all of the ethical
issues you identified in Step 1 of the case.
3
Nonconsequentialist Analysis of Decisions (10 points)
1. Review all of the 26 SUBCHARACTERISTICS identified on
the Six Pillars of Character
Outline in Chapter 2 (i.e., ones with an “(S)” after them) asking
yourself if any ONE of your
decisions violates that subcharacteristic. If any one of your
decision(s) violates a
subcharacteristic, it is not an ethical decision using a
nonconsequentialist analysis. For
example, if I decided to immediately layoff 1000 sewers in the
sample case, that decision

violates the WARN Act and violates the lawfulness
subcharacteristic. That decision would
not be an ethical decision and I would need to start over.
2. If none of your decision(s) violates one of the 26
subcharacteristics, then choose the
STRONGEST FOUR subcharacteristics that you feel support
your decision(s) as being the
most ethical.
3. In a separate paragraph for each subcharacteristic:
A. First, type the name of the subcharacteristic with a “:” after
it.
B. Second, copy and paste the EXACT definition of the
subcharacteristic used in the Six
Pillars of Character Outline.
C. Third, explain in detail how a specific decision or decisions
uphold the
subcharacteristic identified.
Consequentialist Analysis of Decisions (10 points)
1. BASED ON YOUR DECISIONS ABOVE, categorize every
stake identified in Step 2 as
either a cost, a benefit, or part cost and benefit. DO NOT RE-

NUMBER YOUR STAKES.
2. Categorize any additional costs and benefits generated by
your decisions.
3. Analyze your costs and benefits identified in #1 and #2
above. Do the benefits outweigh the
costs? If so, your decision(s) are ethical using a
consequentialist analysis. If not, your
decision(s) are unethical using a consequentialist analysis and
you need to start over.
4. If you believe the benefits outweigh the costs, argue why you
believe so in no more than one
paragraph.
Running Head: CHILDREN AND MEDIA
CHILDREN AND MEDIA 4
Children and Media
Professor Amy Hyman Gregory
Irving Toruno
Introduction
According to research, children have great access to internet
due to growth in technology. A survey conducted on the
children of age 9-16 years to investigate the impact of internet
showed that a larger percentage was occupied by negative
impacts. About 22% said that pornography was the greatest risk
to them, 19% complained of cyber-bulling while 18% were
concerned with violent content. Most of the aggressive content

is found in social media websites such as YouTube and twitter.
This study is aimed at investigating the impact of internet on
children through recognition of children’s voice and experience.
Literature Review
According to Staksrud 2016, internet made 30% of children
aged 9-16 years have contact with people they haven’t met
before. Through online communication, strong links are created
between people of different races and ages which negatively
affect them. However, some connections end up bringing people
together and helping each other. Another study showed that 9%
of children get into contact through internet and go to meet such
people face-to-face. Meeting people for the first time sometimes
happens to be dangerous for the intentions of the meetings are
not well known.
Staksrud says that according to Livingstone et al 2012, 14% of
children using internet comes across sexual images while 6%
send nasty messages on internet. Children complained of
coming into contact with sexual images which made them upset.
Sending hurtful messages online by children in most cases is as
a result of responding to other people’s posts or after had been
provoked by others.
According to analysis of the impact of internet on the life of
children, pornography was rated the most upsetting followed by
online bullying which does not have a great impact. Meeting
new people online and making arrangements to meet offline was
rated the least upsetting impact of internet to children. Apart
from the aforementioned impacts of internet on children, other
impacts like unkind behavior and privacy invasion are under
research.
Methods
Interview was conducted on internet- using children aged 9-16
years using closed-ended questions. Before the closed-ended
questions were issued to the children, one open-ended question
was asked for the children to give their view on what issues
bother them so much in the internet. The children wrote their
answers on a sheet of paper and sealed them such that no one

could know what the children wrote.
Results
The research showed that pornographic risks among the children
was highest rated at 20.5% which included naked and private
images from adults. Violent risks which include rape was rated
17.5% while other content risks such as torture and animal
killing was rated 17.4%. Conduct risk which included conduct
with both adult and children was 19.4% while other risks not
classified was 7.7%.
Discussions
Internet has been diversified worldwide since almost everything
is done through internet and has been risky to children. Children
identify a long list of internet issues concerning them despite
the fact that such issues are familiar from public agenda. Most
of the findings came from direct experiences where children
complained of how bullying and pornographic images were
found online. An awareness concerning online risks was found
to be worrying children on the issues they expect to find on the
internet.
Conclusions
In conclusion, this research calls for attention to children’s
concerns which they express themselves as a result of internet.
Online posts such as pornographic videos uploaded on YouTube
and other websites requires to be examined for the sake of
children whose exposure is diversified.

Reference
Staksrud, E. (2016). Youth 2.0: Social Media and
Adolescence—Connecting, Sharing and Empowering. Journal Of
Children And Media, 10(4), 515-518. doi:
10.1080/17482798.2016.1234730
Running Hhead: SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS 1
SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS 2
Comment by Amy Hyman Gregory: Head should be
lowercase. Missing page number. -2
Effectiveness of Social Media in Connecting People
Comment by Amy Hyman Gregory: Connecting people in
what way? Please resubmit your research question so that both
variables are measurable.
Irving Toruno

References
Hunter, M. (2019). Connecting Ggenerations, Cconnecting
Ddisciplines: Intergenerational (Iim)Possibilities in Ppopular
Mmedia. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 11(1), 165-
171. doi: 10.1353/jeu.2019.0009 Comment by Amy Hyman
Gregory: Only capitalize the first word, a word following a
colon, and proper names/nouns within an article title. -1
Kampf, C. (2018). Connecting Ccorporate and Cconsumer
Ssocial Rresponsibility Tthrough Ssocial Mmedia
Aactivism. Social Media + Society, 4(1), 1-
11205630511774635. doi: 10.1177/2056305117746357
Comment by Amy Hyman Gregory: Only capitalize the
first word, a word following a colon, and proper names/nouns
within an article title. -1
Incorrect page number. -1
Staksrud, E. (2016). Youth 2.0: Social Mmedia and
Aadolescence—Cconnecting, Ssharing and
Eempowering. Journal Oof Children Aand Media, 10(4), 515-
518. doi: 10.1080/17482798.2016.1234730 Comment by Amy
Hyman Gregory: Only capitalize the first word, a word
following a colon, and proper names/nouns within an article
title. -1
-6
94
Good job. Please see comments above.
Running head: INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING AND
MEMORY 1

Investigative Interviewing and Memory: How Accurate are
Interviewers’
Recollections of Investigative Interviews?
Amy Hyman Gregory

INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING & MEMORY 2
Introduction
One of the main goals of an investigative interview is to obtain
as much accurate
information as possible from a witness about the event in
question. All parties involved in
investigations benefit from acquiring complete and accurate
information from witnesses (Fisher,
1995). Investigative interviewers must acquire as much relevant
information as possible from a
witness and may need to recall this information at a later stage
during an investigation.
Interviewers would therefore benefit from any techniques that
may help them to elicit more
accurate information and promote subsequent recall of that
information. One such technique may
be note-taking.
Records of investigative interviews with witnesses are crucial
when interviewers render
testimony in court. When recording devices (i.e., audio/video)
are not available during
interviews, interviewers may rely on other methods to preserve
the accuracy of information

elicited during interviews including their memory, notes taken
during the interview, and any
subsequent written reports. In cases where interviews are not
recorded, the interviewers’ notes
and subsequent reports based on those notes may be the only
source of “accurate” information
remaining from the interview. Oftentimes written reports are the
only remaining documentation
from interviews; thus, when called to testify an expert witness
may read directly from a
summarized report of a witness interview. Therefore, it is
necessary to determine how accurate
interviewers’ recollections and written accounts of interviews
are in order to ensure the veracity
of their content in court. Since interviewers likely take notes
while conducting investigative
interviews these notes may be essential in creating written
reports. It is therefore important to
understand the impact of note-taking behavior on the accuracy
of interviewer recall and
subsequent written reports from investigative interviews.
Commented [AHG1]: Introducing the topic and why it is
important.

Commented [AHG2]: Using parenthetic citation in APA format.
Commented [AHG3]: Intended audience of the research project.
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research.
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why it is important to study.
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Remembering accurately how information was elicited during an
interview may protect
the veracity of subsequent reports and expert testimony; note-
taking may be crucial in preserving
the accuracy of interviews. However, research evaluating the
accuracy of summarized reports
from investigative interviews based on interviewer notes is
scarce; this is puzzling considering
interviewers oftentimes take notes while conducting interviews.
Further, little research has been
conducted on how accurately summarized reports reflect what
occurred during actual interviews

compared to audio/video recordings.
Remembering the types of questions that were asked to elicit
information during an
interview is crucial in that whether a witness answers “yes” to
“Didn’t he touch you?” or
spontaneously says “He touched me,” could potentially result in
quite different veracity
judgments. In both cases, it is likely that an interviewer would
encode, remember, and/or report
the witness information in the same manner: i.e., that the
witness said she was touched. As a
result, the interviewer would testify in court accordingly that
the witness said she was touched.
Clearly, this can be problematic as the first question is
considered suggestive in nature while the
second statement offers information voluntarily. Especially in
the case of child witnesses, it is
crucial for the trier of fact to hear how information was elicited
in order to assess the witness’s
credibility. Therefore, it is important that question type and
phrasing to be properly accounted for
in interviewer reports in order to trace back how information
was elicited. Research on witness
interviewing techniques has demonstrated that witness

information elicited via open ended
questions is more likely to be accurate than information elicited
via specific/closed or yes/no
questions (Fisher, 1995). It is therefore imperative that reports
from investigative interviews
include not only information provided by interviewees but also
the type and content of questions
asked by the interviewers during the interview to prevent
misinterpretation.
Commented [AHG8]: Building a case for the current study.
Little prior research has been conducted.
Commented [AHG9]: Elaborating on further elements of the
problem.
Commented [AHG10]: Another intended audience.
Literature Review
Interviewer Recall
Little research has been conducted on how accurately
summarized reports reflect the
questions asked during interviews when compared to
audio/video recordings from the interview,

despite numerous studies indicating the importance of question
type in eliciting accurate
information during investigative interviews (Fisher, 1995;
Fisher & Geiselman, 1992;
Fisher, Geiselman & Raymond, 1987; Schreiber Compo, Hyman
Gregory & Fisher; 2012;
Technical Working Group: Eyewitness Evidence, 1999). Warren
and Woodall (1999)
investigated how much information interviewers can recall from
the questions they asked and the
interviewee’s responses to those questions during witness
interviews. Experienced interviewers
conducted videotaped interviews with 3-5-year-old children
about an event that occurred in their
pre-school. Interviewers were given a cue question to start the
interview, such as, “Tell me about
the time you went with Tracy to play silly doctor (Warren &
Woodall, 1999, p. 360),” and were
told to elicit as much information as possible using their usual
interviewing techniques.
Immediately following the interview with the child,
interviewers participated in an audio-taped
interview with an experimenter. Interviewers were asked to
recall everything they could

remember from the interview, to report verbatim the specific
types of questions asked to elicit
information, and the child’s verbatim responses to these
questions. Interviewers were then asked
to provide a written summary of the content and sequence of the
interview with the child in
transcript format. Interviewers’ recollections of the interview
were compared to the actual
interviews. Results indicated that a significant amount of
information was lost from the actual
interview to the interviewers’ recollections. Interviewers
recalled only 22% of the specific
questions they asked and the child’s answers to these questions.
However, of specific target
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relevant research.
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method, and design.
questions recalled, 94% were recalled accurately by

interviewers. In addition, most of the
interviewers believed they had asked predominantly open-ended
questions during the interview
when in fact 80% of the questions they asked were specific or
closed-ended. It is clear from the
findings of this study that a significant quantity of information
is lost between the interview and
subsequent written accounts. Interviewers’ recollections of the
interviews are incomplete, and
interviewers seem to have difficulty recalling the types of
questions asked and the interviewee
information elicited by these questions. However, information
that is reported is very likely to be
accurate.
There are, however, a few limitations to Warren and Woodall’s
(1999) study.
Interviewers were asked to write an account of the interview
immediately after they had already
reported what occurred verbally to an experimenter, which may
have influenced the written
report. Furthermore, interviewers in this study were tested
immediately following the interview
with the child. In real life investigative interviews, there are
usually many time gaps between

when the witness is interviewed and when a report is generated.
The time gap is even larger
between when a report is written and when an interviewer may
be called to testify in court. Thus,
time delay is an important factor in subsequent reports based on
investigative interviews. Finally,
the authors did not address the impact of note-taking behavior
on interviewer recall or written
account generation.
Accuracy of Conversation Recollections
Since question type and sentence structure may influence how
information is later
remembered, Bruck, Ceci, and Francoeur (1999) examined
mothers’ memories for conversations
with their pre-school aged children in order to determine the
impact of sentence structure and
meaning of statements on mothers’ verbatim accounts. In Bruck
et al. (1999), mothers
Commented [AHG15]: Explaining analysis and results from
study.
Commented [AHG16]: Explaining what these findings mean for
the present study
Commented [AHG17]: Discussing limitations of the study,

Commented [AHG18]: Introducing variables.
Commented [AHG19]: Transition sentence from study 1 to
study 2.
interviewed their pre-school aged children about a play activity.
Immediately following the
interview, mothers were interviewed by an experimenter and
asked to report in full detail
everything that was said during the interview in dialogue form.
The interviews with the mothers
were transcribed and used to create a recognition test which
contained actual passages from the
interview with their child. In some of the passages the structure
of sentences was changed but the
gist of the conversation was left intact, while in other passages
the gist of the conversation was
changed. The mothers were instructed to look for syntactic and
semantic errors in the passages
and to make corrections when necessary. Additionally, the
recognition test evaluated how well
the mothers could remember answers provided spontaneously or
elicited via specific questions.

The authors’ findings indicate that mothers are not able to recall
well how information is
obtained from their children. Overall, mothers in the study only
recalled 16% of the questions
they asked during the conversations and had difficulty
identifying who introduced the
information into the interview (Bruck et al., 1999). Mothers
were unable to accurately recall
whether utterances were offered spontaneously by their child or
whether the child offered a one-
word answer based on a specific or even a suggestive question.
This can be problematic in legal
settings if only the gist of the interviewee’s account is reported,
and the interviewer does not
recognize that the information was elicited through specific or
leading questions. Under these
circumstances, it may be hard to evaluate of the quality of a
witness’s statement in court. It is
therefore imperative that interview reports include not only
accounts provided by interviewees
but also the types of questions and content of the questions
asked by interviewers to elicit
information to prevent misinterpretation from occurring.
Additionally, interviewers in this study

were mothers who have a close relationship with their children.
This situation may be quite
different from actual investigative interviews where children are
interviewed by unfamiliar
Commented [AHG20]: Explaining study 2, its purpose, and
method.
Commented [AHG21]: Explaining the results.
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important.
Commented [AHG23]: Describing a limitation of the study.
individuals about their experiences. Finally, and like Warren
and Woodall (1999), this study did
not include note-taking behavior as a variable.
Notes from Investigative Interviews
Remembering accurately the way information was elicited
during an interview may
protect the veracity of subsequent reports and expert testimony;
note-taking may be crucial in
preserving the accuracy of interviews. Research evaluating the
accuracy of summarized reports

from investigative interviews based on interviewer notes is
scarce. Only one study addressees the
accuracy of notes written by forensic interviewers from child
witness interviewers (Lamb,
Orbach, Sternberg, Hershkowitz, & Horowitz, 2000). The
authors obtained contemporaneous
verbatim notes from 20 actual investigative interviews.
Contemporaneous notes consisted of
either notes taken during the interview or written shortly after;
this was left to the discretion of
the interviewer. Interviewers’ contemporaneous notes were
transcribed and typed into an
interview format and were compared to the transcriptions from
the audio-taped interviews. The
authors found that 57% of the statements made by the
interviewers were not recorded in their
notes, as well as 25% of incident relevant details provided by
the children. Errors of commission
were found to be quite rare; however, errors of omission
occurred frequently in the study. Thus,
a major problem with interviewers’ notes is that important
information may not be included.
Interviewer notes in this study appear to focus solely on
interviewee responses; interviewer

utterances are neglected more than half the time. Although
written reports based on interviewer
notes were not examined in Lamb et al. (2000), it is likely that
written reports based on
interviewers’ notes may not accurately capture the way
information was elicited during
interviews, based on the authors’ findings. A substantial amount
of information was omitted
from interviewer notes; it is therefore possible that even more
information may be lost when
Commented [AHG24]: Tying study 2’s findings to study 1’s
and linking these findings to the present study.
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used by the authors.
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interviewers do not take notes during interviews and then write
a report at a later date. This can

clearly be detrimental to testimony rendered by interviewers or
hearsay witnesses who base their
testimony on reviewing reports, in that valuable information
about the origin and content of
information may often be unaccounted for.
A limitation of the Lamb et al. (2000) study is that interviewer
notes taken during the
interview were not distinguished from those taken shortly after.
It is therefore unclear whether
notes taken during the interview differ from those taken shortly
after (what the authors meant by
“shortly after” was also not specified). Interviewers did not
generate written reports based on
their notes in this study. It is therefore necessary to investigate
the impact of note-taking
behavior on interviewer reports. Additionally, note-taking was
not varied in this study. In order
to determine whether note-taking may help interviewers
preserve accurate interview content,
research on note-taking must first be evaluated.
Note-Taking
Note-taking is usually associated with students in an academic
setting; however, note-

taking may be beneficial to individuals in non-academic settings
who wish to retain information
for subsequent use. The majority of research on note-taking has
generally focused on academic
uses. However, note-taking is quite common in other domains
such as legal situations,
counseling sessions, and interviewing (Hartley, 2002) areas
which have been under researched in
the note-taking literature. There is a dearth of research on note-
taking during investigative
interviews. In some jurisdictions interviewer notes or written
reports may be accepted in lieu of
electronic recordings of investigative interviews (Lamb et al.,
2000), highlighting the importance
of note-taking behavior in this setting. It is important to
determine whether note-taking aids
Commented [AHG30]: Tying the study findings to the present
study and including the note-taking variable.
Commented [AHG31]: Limitations of study 3.
Commented [AHG32]: Building logic for the present study.
Commented [AHG33]: Transitioning to the next section.

subsequent interviewer recall of interview content as the
presence of notes during report writing
may aid the memory of investigative interviewers, especially if
time delays are present.
Present Study
The present study will add to the literature on investigative
interviewing and the accuracy
of subsequent reports based on these interviews. No study to
date has examined how accurately
interviewers’ written reports reflect how witness information
was elicited. Nor has research
addressed whether note-taking can aid subsequent interviewer
recall and assist with generation of
more accurate accounts of witness interviews. Furthermore,
adult interviewees will be included
in the present study as prior research has only included
interviews with children. Finally, time
delay will be manipulated to determine the effects of delay on
the accuracy and completeness of
written reports.
Hypotheses
There are two hypotheses for the present study. First, it is

hypothesized that note-takers
will outperform non note-takers in the quantity and quality of
information reported. Second, it is
hypothesized that non note-takers in the two-week delay
condition will write the least accurate
and least complete reports.
Commented [AHG34]: Introducing time-delay variable.
Commented [AHG35]: Purpose of the present study.
Commented [AHG36]: Studying a population that is missing
from the literature.
Commented [AHG37]: Anticipated outcome of the research
study.

References
Bruck, M., Ceci, S. J., & Francoeur, E. (1999). The accuracy of
mothers’ memories of
conversations with their preschool children. Journal of
Experimental Psychology:
Applied, 5(1), 89-106.
Ceci, S. J. & Bruck, M. (1993). Suggestibility of child
witnesses: A historical review and
synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3), 403-439.
Fisher, R. P. (1995). Interviewing victims and witnesses of
crime. Psychology, Public
Policy, and Law, 1(4), 732-764.
Fisher, R. P., & Geiselman, R. E. (1992). Memory-enhancing
techniques for investigative
interviewing: The cognitive interview. Springfield, IL: Charles
C. Thomas.
Fisher, R. P., Geiselman, R. E., & Raymond, D. (1987). Critical
analysis of police
interview techniques. Journal of Police Science and
Administration, 15, 177-185.
Hartley, J. (2002). Notetaking in non-academic settings: A
review. Applied Cognitive

Psychology, 16, 559-574.
Lamb, M. E., Orbach, Y., Sternberg, K. J., Hershkowitz, I., &
Horowitz, D. (2000).
Accuracy of investigators’ verbatim notes of their forensic
interviews with child
abuse victims. Law and Human Behavior, 24(6), 699-708.
National Institute of Justice (1999). Eyewitness Evidence: A
Guide for Law Enforcement. (NCJ
Publication No. 178240). Washington, DC.
Schreiber Compo, N., Hyman Gregory, A. & Fisher, R. (2012).
Interviewing behaviors in police
investigators: A field study of a current US sample. Psychology,
Crime & Law, 18(4),
359-375.
Warren, A. R. & Woodall, C. E. (1999). The reliability of
hearsay testimony: How well do
interviewers recall their interviews with children? Psychology,
Public Policy, and Law,
5(2), 355-371.

Running Head INTRODUCTION SECTION AND HYPOTHESISINTRODUCTION SE.docx

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