What is a Polygraph?
Oshawa is the home of three post-secondary learning centres. Perhaps that is why people from Oshawa ask questions about the polygraph. One of the most common questions I am asked about a polygraph in Oshawa is about its accuracy.
When we talk about accuracy it is best to go back to the early days of polygraphy when it was commonly called a lie detector. This term is no longer used in polygraph circles because in fact most persons are found to be truthful. It is felt that a more realistic term should be a truth verifier.
What are the benefits of using a Polygraph in Oshawa?
A Polygraph in Oshawa as currently used has value in distinguishing between truthful and deceptive individuals. No alternative techniques are available that perform better.
The city of Oshawa is centrally located on the north shore of Lake Ontario about 60 kilometers east of Toronto. Once recognized as Canada’s leading automotive producer its role has changed over time. It is now recognized as a center for education and health sciences.
Like the City of Oshawa, polygraph testing has changed over time. In the early 70’s professors at the University of Utah decided to examine the polygraph process to see if there was merit to it, or was it “junk science”. They examined the different techniques available at that time and concluded that there was scientific merit, but that it could be better. They developed the “Utah technique” for polygraph testing.
In subsequent studies the Utah method has been shown to be 93% accurate. This method has fewer false negative, and false positive results that most medical tests currently in use.
How do I know that my polygraph test in Oshawa is not one of the 7% where an error may have been made?
Over the years the university made other advances, simplifying the scoring of charts and developing computer programs to analyse the physiological data gathered during the test. This computer scoring also provides what is called a “p value”. A p value is a statistical analysis of the data obtained from the subject’s charts. In general terms, the lower the p value, the less chance of error.