Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

oom, while the child was directed into the private psychology lab room. In addition to the approval of the
IRB, permission to conduct the study and use the facilities had been previously attained by Julie Deisinger,
Ph.D., the university’s Psychology Department Chair. Dr. Burkhardt conducted video surveillance of the
interview room by a faculty sponsor.
After procuring the signed consent forms, the two volunteer interviewers began the face-to-face
interviews, orally reading the vignette and follow-up interview questions word from word to the child.
The interviews were conducted individually in the private and comfortable psychology study/lab rooms,
with the participant and the interviewers sitting across a table from each other. Only one child and his or
her interviewer were present in the lab room at a time. The interviewer read the vignette and interview
questions slowly and clearly, and enough time was allocated for the participants to respond with as much
information as they so desired.
Participant responses were transcribed, and afterwards were kept in a safe and protected area so as
to ensure participant confidentiality. After the interviews were complete, the video surveillance recording
was stopped and the participants were verbally thanked by the interviewer for their time and participation.
Following the interview, children were led back to their parent(s) or guardian(s). Each
participating child’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) remained available during the study, and was provided a
summary of the child’s resilience factors after the study. A parent/guardian debrief session was also offered
following the interview. Had there been disclosure of childhood sexual abuse, a licensed clinical
psychologist would have constructed follow-up for mandated report.
Data Processing and Analysis
The answers of the children were rated on a scale based on the results of a survey completed by
thirty-one St. Xavier University upper level (300 level+) undergraduate students with majors/minors in
psychology. The survey was borrowed with permission from the parent 1991 child-generated study of Dr.
Sandra Burkhardt (Burkhardt 1991). The survey consisted of the surveyor rating eight resisting and
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