Accounts and their epistemic implications. (3rd August 2018) - Lamerichs, Joyce
Abstract : We examine how "I don't know" answers provided by children in psychological research interviews on trauma recovery talk are received. We analyse the two main ways in which these answers are taken up by the psychologist. Both are hearable as offering an account for the child, but carry different implications. Where the first account claims access to what can legitimately be remembered, the second steers away from this 'sensitive' epistemic course by accounting for the question the interviewer asked. The first strategy results in qualifying responses from the child and the second strategy invites more elaborate replies from the child on what happened. Exploring these practices demonstrates how children display their social competence in this delicate interview setting.