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ensure accuracy. The Polygraph and Lie Detection (or their
supervisors). In medical charts, for example, observations of
the variables critical to immediate patient care are generally
accurate while others perhaps needed later for retrospective
research are often omitted or present only by implication.
Polygraph research would present a similar situation. We
appreciate the inherent difficulty of determining the truth for
observational polygraph field studies. Although we applaud the
labor of those investigators who have undertaken such studies,
we are unable to place a great deal of faith in this small body
of work, especially regarding its implications for screening. We
found only one field study of polygraph screening with
verifiable outcome data relevant to assessing accuracy; its
results and limitations are discussed in Chapt