WHAT IS THE CCAT?
The Custody Conflict Analysis Tool (CCAT) is the product of six years of research, programming and design by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D., a psychologist, author and educator who has a dual expertise in both psychology and computer artificial intelligence/expert systems. The goal of designing the CCAT was to create an information gathering tool to assist in the process of custody evaluation. It does not replace traditional methods, but augments them. The CCAT is a superior method to hours of face to face interviewing for gathering self report information in an economical, efficient and effective manner. In particular, when obtaining information from two people, (i.e., two custody litigants) it is important to gather information in the same way and with the same method. Traditional face to face interviewing is time intensive, costly and because of its unstructured nature, unreliable and prone to speculation. The CCAT does not replace face to face interviews in custody evaluations, (all follow up is done in the traditional fashion) but it does greatly reduce the time required to gather information.
The Custody Conflict Analysis Tool (CCAT) is the product of six years of research, programming and design by Peter J. Favaro, Ph.D., a psychologist, author and educator who has a dual expertise in both psychology and computer artificial intelligence/expert systems. The goal of designing the CCAT was to create an information gathering tool to assist in the process of custody evaluation. It does not replace traditional methods, but augments them. The CCAT is a superior method to hours of face to face interviewing for gathering self report information in an economical, efficient and effective manner. In particular, when obtaining information from two people, (i.e., two custody litigants) it is important to gather information in the same way and with the same method. Traditional face to face interviewing is time intensive, costly and because of its unstructured nature, unreliable and prone to speculation. The CCAT does not replace face to face interviews in custody evaluations, (all follow up is done in the traditional fashion) but it does greatly reduce the time required to gather information.
The CCAT produces a report which lists the questions and answers to each item. It also groups the questions and answers into broad categories which can be used to compare the litigants attitudes and beliefs.
One of the many advantages of the CCAT is that since the questions and answers are produced in the report, they provide a basis to assist attorneys in the cross examination of the parties as well as the expert, and for judges to draw their own inferences from the data.
This transparency in data gathering, demystifies what the sum and substance of the evaluation data are. This transparency forms the basis for a more practical examination of credibility by the fact finder.
But the CCAT is more than just a list of questions and answers, it is also a foundation for following up on these questions and playing to the experts strengths as a scientist and methodologist.
Because the CCAT produces results immediately after the results are submitted, feedback about attitudes and beliefs is delivered immediately. The time savings in this process versus sitting at one's computer and pecking out a sixty or seventy page report by hand can save litigants tens of thousands of dollars and produces valuable information to the court in a timely manner.
One of the many advantages of the CCAT is that since the questions and answers are produced in the report, they provide a basis to assist attorneys in the cross examination of the parties as well as the expert, and for judges to draw their own inferences from the data.
This transparency in data gathering, demystifies what the sum and substance of the evaluation data are. This transparency forms the basis for a more practical examination of credibility by the fact finder.
But the CCAT is more than just a list of questions and answers, it is also a foundation for following up on these questions and playing to the experts strengths as a scientist and methodologist.
Because the CCAT produces results immediately after the results are submitted, feedback about attitudes and beliefs is delivered immediately. The time savings in this process versus sitting at one's computer and pecking out a sixty or seventy page report by hand can save litigants tens of thousands of dollars and produces valuable information to the court in a timely manner.
How was the CCAT created?
The CCAT was created by content analyzing data from 1000 custody evaluations performed in Dr. Favaro's practice. Content analysis is a process where each case is reviewed to determine the most common themes of custody and co-parenting conflict.
Each case was scrubbed for specific types of complaints the parties made with one another, and the frequencies of the complaints were gathered.
The common themes of conflict were then transformed into a series of structured TRUE/FALSE and MULTIPLE CHOICE questions. After the CCAT is administered, these questions are analyzed for trends. The trends identify attitude and belief systems of the litigants, toward one another, toward the custody conflict and regarding the children. The science of attitude-behavior relationships is well studied, so identifying attitudes related to conflict, child rearing, access schedules and parenting competencies is a direct and reasonable way of gathering information related to custodial fitness.
Because the questions are asked to both parties in the same way, with the same methodology they can be grouped, and compared directly to one another. SImple statistical tests can be applied to each set of responses to see if they are more similar or dissimilar to one another.
The CCAT was created by content analyzing data from 1000 custody evaluations performed in Dr. Favaro's practice. Content analysis is a process where each case is reviewed to determine the most common themes of custody and co-parenting conflict.
Each case was scrubbed for specific types of complaints the parties made with one another, and the frequencies of the complaints were gathered.
The common themes of conflict were then transformed into a series of structured TRUE/FALSE and MULTIPLE CHOICE questions. After the CCAT is administered, these questions are analyzed for trends. The trends identify attitude and belief systems of the litigants, toward one another, toward the custody conflict and regarding the children. The science of attitude-behavior relationships is well studied, so identifying attitudes related to conflict, child rearing, access schedules and parenting competencies is a direct and reasonable way of gathering information related to custodial fitness.
Because the questions are asked to both parties in the same way, with the same methodology they can be grouped, and compared directly to one another. SImple statistical tests can be applied to each set of responses to see if they are more similar or dissimilar to one another.