CPI Client Intake & Interview Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When interviewing multiple witnesses from the same household, what is the best practice to ensure unbiased accounts?
- Interview all witnesses together to save time
- Interview each witness separately before they discuss the events with each other (Correct answer)
- Have the most credible witness present during all interviews
- Interview witnesses in the order of their reported experiences
Correct answer: Interview each witness separately before they discuss the events with each other
Separate interviews prevent witnesses from influencing each other's accounts, preserving the integrity of individual testimonies.
Question 2: A client requests that no male investigators enter their home due to personal beliefs. How should the team respond?
- Decline the case as the restriction is unreasonable
- Accommodate the request if possible, respecting the client's autonomy (Correct answer)
- Ignore the request since it affects the investigation's thoroughness
- Send only male investigators to test the restriction
Correct answer: Accommodate the request if possible, respecting the client's autonomy
Respecting client autonomy and personal boundaries is a core ethical obligation, even if accommodating requests requires adjusting team composition.
Question 3: What does 'natural explanation first' mean in the context of client intake?
- Investigators should ask clients to describe nature-related activity
- Investigators should consider and rule out ordinary explanations before concluding activity is paranormal (Correct answer)
- Investigators should explain that all haunting reports have natural causes
- Investigators should prioritize outdoor investigations over indoor ones
Correct answer: Investigators should consider and rule out ordinary explanations before concluding activity is paranormal
Responsible investigators systematically eliminate mundane causes such as structural, environmental, or psychological factors before attributing activity to paranormal sources.
Question 4: An investigator discovers during intake that a client is being charged rent by a landlord who has fabricated a haunting story. What is the ethical course of action?
- Conduct the investigation normally without getting involved
- Encourage the client to seek legal advice and consider reporting the situation to authorities (Correct answer)
- Publicly expose the landlord on social media
- Offer to find paranormal evidence to support the client's legal case
Correct answer: Encourage the client to seek legal advice and consider reporting the situation to authorities
Investigators should support the client's wellbeing by directing them to appropriate legal resources rather than inserting themselves into a legal dispute.
Question 5: Why should investigators avoid using leading questions during client interviews?
- They make the interview take longer
- They can bias the client's responses and contaminate the witness account (Correct answer)
- They are considered legally inadmissible
- They confuse clients who are not familiar with paranormal terminology
Correct answer: They can bias the client's responses and contaminate the witness account
Leading questions suggest the expected answer, which can skew testimony and reduce its evidentiary value.
Question 6: A client asks the investigator to perform a cleansing or blessing after the investigation. What is the ethical stance?
- Perform the cleansing as part of standard protocol
- Decline entirely as it is outside an investigator's role
- Inform the client of the team's capabilities and refer to appropriate spiritual or religious contacts if outside scope (Correct answer)
- Charge an additional fee and perform a generic cleansing
Correct answer: Inform the client of the team's capabilities and refer to appropriate spiritual or religious contacts if outside scope
Investigators should be honest about their scope of practice and refer clients to qualified spiritual or religious practitioners for cleansings or blessings.
Question 7: Which of the following is a red flag that a client may need mental health support rather than a paranormal investigation?
- The client reports activity only at night
- The client expresses persistent fear of being followed or harmed by supernatural entities affecting their daily functioning (Correct answer)
- The client has multiple cameras installed in their home
- The client requests anonymity for their case
Correct answer: The client expresses persistent fear of being followed or harmed by supernatural entities affecting their daily functioning
When reported activity significantly impairs daily functioning or involves paranoid ideation, referral to a mental health professional is the responsible course of action.
CPI Client Intake & Interview Ethics 3
When interviewing multiple witnesses from the same household, what is the best practice to ensure unbiased accounts?