Hybrid Research (Lie Detector)

There is another type of research that makes it possible to avoid the weakness of field research and research by analogy by combining the advantages of both. In such hybrid studies, the experimenter creates a situation in which the commission of a real crime is possible. In such a situation, as in studies by analogy, there is no doubt about the truth, but there is as much at stake for the lying and for the innocent as with the field studies. This was the basis of the hybrid study conducted by Netzer Daye, a member of the Union of Scientific Investigations of the Israeli police in Jerusalem. The lie was “genuine, valid, and not simulated ... the subjects believed that the investigator did not know exactly who committed the crime; they (were) focused on test results; ... and the detector operator did not know the correlation of the guilty and innocent in this experience " ^[147] .
They tested Israeli policemen (a total of 21 people) who had already passed the test “presented to them as qualifying. The subjects were asked to review their answers to the tests, which provided the possibility of a scam, that is, a review of the initial answers. The paper, however, was pre-processed so that any corrections were easily detected. Seven of the 21 participants in the experiment really changed the initial answers. Then they were all told that they were suspected of a scam, and they offered to undergo a detector test. The police career now depended on the results of this test ” ^[148] .
It was necessary to take into account the fact that the police may refuse to test the detector (in criminal investigations such tests are carried out only with the consent of the suspects, and the requirement of such consent is unacceptable). As a result, three out of seven deceivers confessed, one and two more innocent people refused to pass the detector test, but failed to catch one ^[149] .
In the end, only 15 out of 21 police officers were tested on the detector, three cheaters and twelve non-cheaters. During the test, the test questions technique was used, on which both deceivers were caught; but two people who told the truth were mistakenly found to be Volga.
However, no serious conclusions can be drawn from this study, because there were too few participants. However, such hybrid research can be very useful, despite the ethical problems arising from this - people are forced to lie and cheat. But Israeli researchers believed their experience to be completely legitimate, since they did not doubt the importance of proper evaluation of the detector. “Thousands of people pass a lie detector test every year ... and on the basis of such tests, the most important decisions are made. And there are still doubts as to the accuracy of the work of this tool of investigation ... ” ^[150] . Perhaps, such studies are really best done only with police officers, since their work itself already involves some risk, and in addition, they generally have a much greater relationship to this technique than anyone else. All the virtues of such hybrid research lies in their authenticity. Some cops really cheat on the test. “The classified internal investigations of high-ranking FBI officials showed that several hundred employees cheated when they were tested for the desired positions” ^[151] . The hybrid experiment conducted in Israel was not a game, nor was it a desire to succeed in fooling researchers. The fear of exposure was strong, and since the career was at stake, some even felt remorse for their deception.