Using Robots to Interview Children about Bullying: Lessons Learned from an Exploratory Study

Authors

• Cindy L. Bethel, Mississippi State University
• Zachary Henkel, Mississippi State University
• Kristen Stives, Mississippi State University
• David C. May, Mississippi State University
• Deborah K. Eakin, Mississippi State University
• Melinda Pilkinton, Mississippi State University
• Alexis Jones, Mississippi State University
• Megan Stubbs-Richardson, Mississippi State University

ORCID

May: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8275-6773

MSU Affiliation

College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Sociology

Creation Date

2026-06-01

Abstract

This article describes the results of a study that compares disclosure occurrences of bullying from children (ages 8 to 12) to either a human or a social robot. Results from an orally administered questionnaire to 60 children, split evenly between human and robotic interviewers, revealed that few significant differences in reporting were encountered between interviewer types. Overall 9 of 60 (15%) of participants reported being bullied in the past month. Participants were significantly more likely to report that fellow students were teased about their looks to the robot interviewer in comparison to the human interviewer. In addition to the examination of these results, a discussion of lessons learned for future studies of this nature are provided.

Publication Date

8-31-2016

Publication Title

2016 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

Publisher

IEEE

First Page

712

Last Page

717

Rights

© Copyright 2026 IEEE

Recommended Citation

C. L. Bethel et al., "Using robots to interview children about bullying: Lessons learned from an exploratory study," 2016 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), New York, NY, USA, 2016, pp. 712-717, doi: 10.1109/ROMAN.2016.7745197.