Partial Report Released
The report has been publicly provided, but Senator Grassley is correct in requesting the full exam charts, which will determine if it has been scored correctly and objectively. No amount of spin or press releases will compensate for that. In addition, there are obvious and glaring issues such as the questions posed, the ‘test’ administered and the environment of the examination.
Additionally, the full exam will show her actual scores. Each exam question receives a score and when totaled the examiner will use that score to determine if deception is indicated or not. The higher or lower the score, the greater the reliability of the result.
Polygraph Test Questions Explained
The questions asked here are of a “statement test” type, which don’t require the examinee to describe behavior. As an example, turning a question such as “did you do a PARTICULAR act” into a statement test, such as “is your statement true” doesn’t require the examinee to think of the act (ie…the assault) but to think about the statement. Questions without a known study to support it’s accuracy make responses to such questions, at the least, extremely difficult to determine the reliability of.
For comparison:
- A known issue question discussing a particular act has hundreds of studies conducted by government agencies and universities that have been peer reviewed for reliability.
- The test administered was the Federal You Phase Zone Comparison Test. This test is not as reliable as the Utah Single Issue Test and has twice as many inconclusive results.
Polygraph’s have been admitted in courts and the reliability can be greater than that of the Breath Test, which is commonly used in court as well as CAT scans, however the Test Questions and Test used in this case are not the most reliable.
Environmental Concerns
Ford testified that she had attended her grandmother’s funeral the day before the polygraph and that she was crying during the exam. Both having just attended a funeral and also crying by being forced to think about her alleged attack would properly cause the exam to performed on another date.
- A highly emotional examinee is very likely to have unreliable results. It would be interesting to see the video of the polygraph exam to see if it corroborates her testimony.
- A polygraph should be conducted in as sterile environment as possible, crying and having just attended an emotional event are certainly not optimal.