EVALUATION OF HALL AND PLAYER
VALIDITY:
• It could be argued that the design of the research meant that the internal validity could be
questioned. For example, the fingerprint experts knew they were not dealing with a live mark
and that it was an experiment. This could potentially create demand characteristics.
• However, Hall and Player felt that experts would become involved in their analysis of the
ambiguous fingerprint and to some extent forget they were in a naturalistic experimental
situation. This means that internal validity would be maintained.
RELIABILITY:
• The procedure used by Hall and Player used standardized copy of the right forefinger
fingerprint.
• Using a canon laser 1000 printer, each copy would be consistent with each other and
additionally the fingerprint was positioned in a standardized way so that the background of
the note obscured most of the Ridge detail.
• The way in which the information was gathered from the experts was consistent.
• E.g., they were all given feedback sheet which asked whether they had referred to
the crime scene examination report prior to their assessment of the mark.
SAMPLING BIAS:
• The participants were all experienced experts from the metropolitan police fingerprint
bureau who undertook the fingerprint identification as part of a typical day’s work.
• Most of the participants were experts practicing in fingerprint identification and so can be a
representative sample of fingerprint experts.
• This suggests that the results can be generalized to tother fingerprint experts.
ETHNOCENTRISIM
• Cognitive biases are often rooted in culture because they are created by expectations.
• A person’s expectation is determined by a mixture of personal experience.
• It is possible that people in individualistic cultures such as America and the UK are less
influenced by cultural expectations than people from collectivist cultures such as China.
• This would suggest that the evidence in the key research might be ethnocentric because the
lack of cognitive bias was observed I people form an individualistic culture.
• In some other cultures experts might be more prone to be affected by culturally related
cognitive biases
VALIDITY:
• It could be argued that the design of the research meant that the internal validity could be
questioned. For example, the fingerprint experts knew they were not dealing with a live mark
and that it was an experiment. This could potentially create demand characteristics.
• However, Hall and Player felt that experts would become involved in their analysis of the
ambiguous fingerprint and to some extent forget they were in a naturalistic experimental
situation. This means that internal validity would be maintained.
RELIABILITY:
• The procedure used by Hall and Player used standardized copy of the right forefinger
fingerprint.
• Using a canon laser 1000 printer, each copy would be consistent with each other and
additionally the fingerprint was positioned in a standardized way so that the background of
the note obscured most of the Ridge detail.
• The way in which the information was gathered from the experts was consistent.
• E.g., they were all given feedback sheet which asked whether they had referred to
the crime scene examination report prior to their assessment of the mark.
SAMPLING BIAS:
• The participants were all experienced experts from the metropolitan police fingerprint
bureau who undertook the fingerprint identification as part of a typical day’s work.
• Most of the participants were experts practicing in fingerprint identification and so can be a
representative sample of fingerprint experts.
• This suggests that the results can be generalized to tother fingerprint experts.
ETHNOCENTRISIM
• Cognitive biases are often rooted in culture because they are created by expectations.
• A person’s expectation is determined by a mixture of personal experience.
• It is possible that people in individualistic cultures such as America and the UK are less
influenced by cultural expectations than people from collectivist cultures such as China.
• This would suggest that the evidence in the key research might be ethnocentric because the
lack of cognitive bias was observed I people form an individualistic culture.
• In some other cultures experts might be more prone to be affected by culturally related
cognitive biases
