A FIELD STUDY OF THE BACKSTER ZONE COMPARISON TECHNIQUE'S EITHER-OR RULE AND SCORING SYSTEM VERSUS TWO OTHER SCORING SYSTEMS WHEN RELEVANT QUESTION ELICITS STRONG RESPONSE by James Allan Matte ABSTRACT:    The Backster Zone Comparison Technique has been criticized as being biased against the innocent examinee because it compares a strong relevant question reaction to the control question that elicited the least or no reaction while ignoring a strong reaction neighboring the same relevant question. Backster’s anticlimax dampening concept forms the basis of his “Either Or” rule which dictates that when there is a significant reaction in one zone, there should be a comparative absence of reaction in the other zone against which it is being compared. Thus in the presence of a strong reaction to the relevant question, the neighboring control question that elicits little or no reaction is functioning as designed and in fact is the effective control question. However several research studies have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of comparing a strong relevant question to the control question that elicited the greatest response, the control question that elicited the weakest response, and the straight paired non-selective comparison where the relevant question was compared to the control question that preceded it. But none of those studies replicated the Backster Zone Comparison Technique to any degree that would render their results applicable to the validity of Backster’s relevant/control comparison rules articulated in his Tri-Zone Reaction Combinations. This field study used 123 confirmed guilty cases that employed the Backster “You Phase” Zone Comparison Technique to determine the accuracy and effectiveness of each of the three methods of comparison to the relevant question that elicited a strong response, expectedly present only in confirmed guilty cases. The results of this field study comprising 123 cases representing 270 polygraph charts averaged 2.2 charts per case. Two false negatives would have occurred using the Greatest Reaction Control (GRC) and the GRC produced the greatest number of Inconclusives at 35.3%. The comparison of the relevant questions with the control question that elicited the least or no reaction produced the least number of Inconclusives and with no errors, followed by the comparison of the relevant questions with the control question that preceded the particular relevant question with no errors. The results of this field research study supports Backster’s “Either-Or” Rule of comparison of the relevant question that elicits a strong reaction with the control question that elicits the least or no reaction, and refutes the contention that its practice makes the Backster Zone Comparison Technique biased against the innocent examinee. The complete study can be found in Volume 4, Number 2(12), 2010, European Polygraph, journal of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Poland.