| 1. |
- May, Lennart, et al.
(author)
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Eliciting Intelligence Using the Scharff-Technique: Closing in on the Confirmation/Disconfirmation-Tactic
- 2014
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In: Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. - : Wiley. - 1544-4759. ; 11:2, s. 136-150
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The current study examined interview techniques aimed at eliciting intelligence from human sources. We compared two versions of the Scharff-technique to the Direct Approach (a combination of open and direct questions). The Scharff conditions, conceptualised into four tactics, differed only with respect to the ‘confirmation/disconfirmation-tactic’. The participants (N=90) received background information and took the role as a source in a phone interview. They were instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too little and too much information. As predicted, the Scharff-technique resulted in more new information than the Direct Approach. Importantly, the sources interviewed by the Scharff-technique perceived that they had revealed less new information than they objectively did, whereas the sources interviewed by the Direct Approach perceived that they had revealed more new information than they objectively did. Furthermore, the interviewer's information objectives were better masked with the confirmation-tactic than with the disconfirmation-tactic. The results highlight the Scharff-technique as a promising human intelligence gathering technique. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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| 2. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982
(author)
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Eliciting intelligence from human sources: Evaluating the Scharff-technique
- 2014
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is on how to elicit intelligence from human sources. More specifically, the aim is to examine the efficacy of the tactics employed by an iconic figure in the field: Hanns Scharff. A novel experimental set-up, as well as new dependent measures, was introduced in order to evaluate the efficacy of different human intelligence gathering techniques. Participants were given information about a planned terrorist attack, asked to take on the role of “sources”, and instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information in a subsequent interview. In Study I (N = 93) three human intelligence gathering techniques were evaluated. The Scharff-technique was conceptualized to include four tactics (i.e., to have a friendly approach, never pressure for information, create an illusion of knowing it all, and presenting confirmation/disconfirmation claims), the Open Question technique consisted of open-ended questions and the Specific Question technique consisted of specific questions. The results showed that the three techniques did not differ with respect to the amount of new information gathered. The participants interviewed with the Scharff-technique (vs. the two control techniques) perceived that it was more difficult to read the interviewer’s information objectives. The participants interviewed with the Scharff-technique and the Open Question technique (incorrectly) perceived that they revealed less information than participants interviewed with the Specific Question technique. In sum, the Scharff-technique showed some promising results but did not elicit more new information. This outcome was attributed to a disorganized implementation of the tactics. In Study II (N = 60) the Scharff-technique was compared to the Direct Approach (a combination of open-ended and specific questions). For this study a number of methodological improvements were made compared to Study I. The tactics used in the Scharff-technique were implemented in a more careful manner and most of the dependent measures were advanced. The results showed that the Scharff-technique resulted in more, and more precise, new information. Furthermore, the participants interviewed with the Scharff-technique underestimated, whereas participants interviewed with the Direct Approach overestimated, the amount of new information revealed. This study showed quite strong support for the efficacy of the Scharff-technique. In sum, this thesis introduced an experimental set-up mirroring some key aspects of a human intelligence gathering scenario and developed a set of novel dependent measures for examining the efficacy of the compared techniques. This thesis provides empirical support for the Scharff-technique as a promising tool for eliciting intelligence from human sources.
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| 3. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982
(author)
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Eliciting intelligence from human sources: The first scientific test of the Scharff-technique
- 2011
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In: The 8th meeting of the Nordic Network for research on Psychology and Law (NNPL) Oslo, Norway, 16-17 September, 2011.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Purpose. The gathering of human intelligence (HUMINT) is of utmost importance, yet the scientific literature is silent with respect to the effectiveness of different information elicitation techniques. Our aim was to remedy this by conducting the first scientific test of the so-called Scharff technique (named after the successful German WWII interrogator). Method. Wedeveloped a new experimental paradigm, mirroring some main features of a typical HUMINT situation. The participants (N = 93) were given information on a planned terrorist attack, and were instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information in an upcoming interview. One third was interviewed with the Scharff technique (conceptualized to include four different tactics), one-third was asked open questions only, and the final third was asked specific questions only. The effectiveness of the three techniques was assessed by a novel set of objective and subjective measures. Results. Our main findings show that (1) the three techniques did not differ with respect to the objective amount of new information gathered; (2) the participants in the Scharff condition perceived (as predicted) that it was more difficult to read the interviewer’s information objectives; and (3) the participants in the Scharff- and the Open-question condition (incorrectly) perceived to have revealed significantly less information than the participants in the Specific question condition. Conclusions. We presented a new experimental paradigm, and new dependent measures, for studying the effectiveness of different information elicitation techniques. We consider the outcome for the Scharff technique as rather promising, but future refinements are needed.
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| 4. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982
(author)
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On eliciting intelligence from human sources: Contextualizing the Scharff-technique
- 2013
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In: 3rd Annual HIG Research Symposium Washington, USA, 16-17 October 2013.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study sought to objectively evaluate the efficacy of the interrogation strategies employed by an iconic figure in the field, Hanns Scharff. The corollary objective was to identify science-based strategies for effectively eliciting intelligence from human sources under ecologically valid conditions. In Experiment 1 (N = 119) we made the interviewer-source interaction more realistic (compared to previous research), and in Experiment 2 (N = 200) we mapped the comparative efficacy over different types of sources. In both experiments the participants were given information about a planned terrorist attack, asked to take on the role of ‘sources’, and instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information in a subsequent interview. They were then interviewed with either the Scharff-technique (conceptualized as four different tactics) or the Direct Approach (open and direct questions). The overall result showed that the Scharff-technique resulted in significantly more new, and more precise, information than the Direct Approach. Furthermore, the sources interviewed with the Scharff-technique had a comparatively more difficult time reading the interviewer’s information objectives. Finally, the sources interviewed with the Scharff-technique significantly underestimated, whereas the sources in the Direct Approach generally overestimated, how much new information they revealed. The study marks the Scharff-technique as a promising human intelligence gathering technique.
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| 5. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982, et al.
(author)
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On eliciting intelligence from human sources: Contextualizing the Scharff-technique
- 2014
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In: The 7th annual iIIRG conference, Lausanne, Switzerland, 4-6 June 2014.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of the strategies employed by the iconic WWII interrogator Hanns Scharff. The objective was to identify science-based strategies for effectively eliciting intelligence from human sources. In Experiment 1 (N = 119) we made the interviewer-source interaction more realistic (compared to previous research), and in Experiment 2 (N = 200) we mapped the comparative efficacy over different types of sources. In both experiments the participants were given information about a planned terrorist attack, asked to take on the role of ‘sources’, and instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information in a subsequent interview. They were then interviewed with either the Scharff-technique (conceptualized as four different tactics) or the Direct Approach (open and direct questions). The overall result showed that the Scharff-technique resulted in significantly more new, and more precise, information than the Direct Approach. The sources interviewed with the Scharff-technique had a comparatively more difficult time reading the interviewer’s information objectives. Finally, the sources interviewed with the Scharff-technique significantly underestimated, whereas the sources in the Direct Approach generally overestimated, how much new information they revealed. The study marks the Scharff-technique as a promising human intelligence gathering technique.
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| 6. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982, et al.
(author)
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On eliciting intelligence from human sources: Contextualizing the Scharff-Technique
- 2014
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In: Applied Cognitive Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0888-4080 .- 1099-0720. ; 28:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Three techniques for eliciting intelligence from human sources were examined. Two versions of the Scharff-technique (conceptualized as four tactics) were compared against the Direct Approach (open and direct questions). The Scharff confirmation technique used correct claims to elicit information, and the Scharff disconfirmation/confirmation technique used a mix of correct and incorrect claims. The participants (N= 119) took the role of ‘sources’ holding information about a terrorist attack and tried not to reveal too much or too little information during an interview. The Scharff confirmation resulted in more new information than the Scharff disconfirmation/confirmation and the Direct Approach. The sources in the Scharff conditions had a more difficult time reading the interviewer’s information objectives. The sources in the Scharff conditions underestimated, whereas sources in the Direct Approach overestimated, how much new information they revealed. The study advances previous work and shows that the Scharff-technique is a promising intelligence gathering technique.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982
(author)
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The Scharff-technique: Eliciting intelligence from human sources
- 2013
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In: The 9th meeting of the Nordic Network for research on Psychology and Law (NNPL) Aarhus, Denmark, October 25-26, 2013..
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study is on how to elicit intelligence from human sources. We compared the efficacy of two human intelligence gathering techniques; the Scharff-technique (conceptualized as four different tactics) and the Direct Approach (a combination of open and direct questions). Participants (N = 60) were asked to take on the role of ‘sources’ and were given information about a planned terrorist attack. They were to reveal part of this information in an upcoming interview. Critically, the participants were instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information. As predicted, the participants revealed significantly more, and more precise, new information when interviewed with the Scharff-technique (vs. the Direct Approach). Furthermore, and as predicted, the participants in the Scharff-condition underestimated how much new information they revealed, whereas the participants in the Direct Approach overestimated how much new information they revealed. The study provides rather strong support for the Scharff-technique as an effective human intelligence gathering technique.
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| 9. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982, et al.
(author)
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The scharff-technique: Eliciting intelligence from human sources
- 2014
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In: Law and human behavior. - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 0147-7307 .- 1573-661X. ; 38:5, s. 478-489
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study is on how to elicit intelligence from human sources. We compared the efficacy of two human intelligence gathering techniques: the Scharff-technique (conceptualized as four different tactics) and the Direct Approach (a combination of open and direct questions). Participants (N = 60) were asked to take on the role of “sources” and were given information about a planned terrorist attack. They were to reveal part of this information in an upcoming interview. Critically, the participants were instructed to strike a balance between not revealing too much or too little information. As predicted, the participants revealed significantly more, and more precise, new information when interviewed with the Scharff-technique (vs. the Direct Approach). Furthermore, and as predicted, the participants in the Scharff condition underestimated how much new information they revealed whereas the participants in the Direct Approach overestimated how much new information they revealed. The study provides rather strong support for the Scharff-technique as an effective human intelligence gathering technique.
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| 10. |
- Oleszkiewicz, Simon, 1982
(author)
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The Scharff technique: Repeated interviews and small cells of sources
- 2014
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In: 4th Annual HIG Research Symposium, Washington DC USA, 21 Oct 2014.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Scharff technique has consistently outperformed the Direct Approach for information elicitation purposes. The current study sought to extend previous findings by varying the context of the interviews. In Experiment 1 (N = 66) each participant was interviewed on three occasions (repeated interviews). In Experiment 2 (N = 180) groups of three participants sharing the same knowledge were separated and interviewed individually (cells of sources). Participants were given information about a planned terrorist attack and were instructed to be semi-cooperative in a subsequent interview. For both experiments the participants were interviewed with either the Scharff technique or the Direct Approach. For both experiments the Scharff technique resulted in more new information, but only significantly so for repeated interviews (Exp 1). Importantly, for both experiments the sources in the Scharff condition generally underestimated, whereas the sources in the Direct Approach overestimated, how much new information they revealed. Both experiments marks the Scharff technique as a promising human intelligence gathering technique.
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