McGill University + Camp STEAM
About the Child Interviewing and Witness (CIW) Lab
The Child Interviewing and Witness Lab is a psychology research lab located in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University, located in Montreal, Quebec. Their goal is to understand how children’s honesty and disclosure behaviours develop across their lifetime, and to better understand children’s attitudes towards honesty. Further, the lab investigates how to best ask children about things that have occurred to them and others.
Currently the CIW Lab is conducting an online study with children aged 7-11 years old, called Siblings & Peers.
About the Siblings & Peers Study
In this study, the CIW Lab is interested in interviewing children with and without siblings, to understand whether they will disclose to a neutral adult, about another adult’s major or minor wrongdoing reported by their siblings and/or peers. This study seeks to better understand how children view honesty behaviours across development.
Who Can Participate, What’s Involved and Benefits of Participation
Any child, with or without siblings, between the ages of 7-11 years old located in Canada or the USA can participate in the study. The Sibling & Peers study is conducted online and takes approximately 20-60 minutes to complete. Participants receive a $20 Amazon or Indigo gift card (of their choice) for their time.
Over an online video call, the researcher will read your child a few stories, in which an adult commits a major transgression (i.e., allowing a child to use a power tool) or a minor transgression (i.e., allowing a child to go to bed without brushing their teeth) towards a peer or sibling. Children in the story who are told about the transgression will then either tell an adult or not tell an adult about what happened to their sibling or peer. Your child will answer questions regarding how they feel about the adults and the children in the stories. In addition to reading the vignettes, your child will also complete three cognitive measures and complete a questionnaire discussing their sibling relationships (if applicable).
Parents will be asked to complete 2-3 questionnaires that will take approximately 10 – 25 minutes.
Email ciwl.ecp@mcgill.ca with questions, visit the CIW Lab Website to learn more, or click here to sign-up to participate.