Patent ID: 7346541

Claim:
A computer based method for acquiring life history information from an applicant for employment to minimize positive response bias and enhance the veracity of the acquired life history information, comprised of: presenting to the applicant a collection of questions related to life history information, the life history information comprising information about more than one life event, the question collection being comprised of a revealed stem question relating to a first life event that occurred at a first time and a hidden branch question relating to a second life event that occurred at a second time; receiving from the applicant a response to the revealed stem question and storing the revealed stem question response in a computer database; based on the revealed stem question response, automatically determining whether to present the hidden branch question to the applicant; if, after the automatic determination, the hidden branch question is to be presented to the applicant, revealing the hidden branch question to the applicant, receiving from the applicant a response to the hidden branch question and storing the hidden branch question response in the computer database; and determining a critical item, the determination identifying a chronological inconsistency, based on the response to the revealed stem question compared to the response to the hidden branch question, and wherein the critical item has been empirically related to a predefined negative outcome.