Purpose. The three studies presented in this paper systematically examined the effect of expectations of guilt on interviewer questioning style, confession, denial rates, and suspects' verbal behaviour during interview.Method. Undergraduate students were recruited to participate in the three studies. In Study 1, 61 participants formulated questions that they wanted to ask a suspect to determine whether or not they cheated on a task. Prior to formulating their questions, participants were led to believe that the suspect was likely to be guilty or innocent. In Study 2, 45 'innocent' and 'guilty' participants were accused of cheating on a task and were interviewed with either guilt-presumptive questions or neutral questions. In the final study, 58 participants listened to a selection of audiotaped interviews from Study 2. They then rated various aspects of the suspects' verbal behaviour.Results. As hypothesized expectations of guilt resulted in the formulation of more guilt-presumptive questions even when participants were free to generate their own questions (Study 1). A significant association was found between suspect guilt/innocence and whether they confessed or denied, although there was no association between questioning style and confession or denial rates (Study 2). However, as expected, ratings of independent observers who listened to tape recordings of the suspect interviews indicated an influence of questioning style on the suspects' verbal behaviour whereby a self-fulfilling prophecy effect occurred (Study 3).Conclusions. These results indicate that expectations of guilt can indeed have an effect on questioning style and that this in-turn can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy effect.

Research Methods and Sampling Research Methods and Sampling Research Methods and Sampling Research Methods and Sampling Research Methods and SamplingThe research reported in this paper explores the development of a qualitative research strategy designed to determine the salient cultural and social variables for ITT among Arab-Americans business people and young Arab adults living in the U.S., and a sample of middle class Arabs living in five countries. The ultimate goal of the overall research project is to predict success and failure of information technology transfer to Arab countries using qualitative and quantitative research methods. The project uses several techniques to lay the foundation for a cultural influence model. We report here the findings of qualitative data collected in three distinct phases.

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Rural mental health care reform has failed to recognize that service utilization and access is guided by the meanings and explanations that rural dwellers ascribe to symptoms and treatments for mental illness. These meanings and explanations are described here as local knowledge. It is argued that planning for reform in rural mental health service delivery must take into account the local knowledge and explanations for mental illness and its treatment in order to improve rural mental health.

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