Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore investigative decision-making processes in the context of major crimes as experienced by the law enforcement agents. Design/methodology/approach Episodic interviews were conducted with six agents from medium-sized police forces in the UK. Following the framework of naturalistic inquiry, qualitative content analysis took place with the assistance of Atlas.ti software. To ensure the validity of findings, the within method triangulation was preferred, by additionally analysing the interview transcripts with Alceste. Findings Findings from this study revealed a variety of internal factors at play, shaping the decision-making course into an act of balancing various desired goals. Detectives appear to assess a situation based on their experiences confirming that the naturalistic decision-making model may assist in understanding investigative decision-making. Research limitations/implications Due to the busy schedule of law enforcement agents the number of participants was limited and availability difficult; therefore, this study can be thought of as a pilot study that will inspire researchers to use the same method for in-depth understanding of investigative decision-making. Practical implications Results captured the ill-defined goals in the police environment and provided ways of decreasing their impact on investigative decision-making thus should help detectives to understand their decision-making limitations and strengths. Social implications This project will enhance the psychological understanding of investigative decision-making. Originality/value This project assists in understanding the psychological aspect of investigative decision-making during police duty and provides the opportunity to law enforcement agents to re-evaluate situations in order to improve the investigative decision-making process; while adds to existing literature.

中文翻译：

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调查性决策：与侦探的访谈

目的本文的目的是探讨执法人员所经历的重大犯罪情况下的调查性决策过程。设计/方法/方法对英国中型警察的六名特工进行了情景采访。遵循自然主义探究的框架，在Atlas.ti软件的帮助下进行了定性内容分析。为了确保调查结果的有效性，通过使用Alceste额外分析采访记录，首选使用内部方法三角剖分。结果研究的发现揭示了各种内部因素在起作用，从而将决策过程塑造为平衡各种预期目标的行为。侦探似乎根据他们的经验来评估一种情况，从而证实自然主义的决策模型可以帮助理解调查性决策。研究限制/意义由于执法人员的日程安排繁忙，参与者人数有限且难以获得。因此，该研究可以被认为是一项试点研究，它将激发研究人员使用相同的方法来深入理解调查决策。实际的影响结果显示了警察环境中目标不明确的目标，并提供了减少其对调查决策影响的方法，因此应有助于侦探了解其决策局限性和优势。社会影响该项目将增强人们对调查决策的心理理解。独创性/价值该项目有助于了解警察执勤期间调查决策的心理方面，并为执法人员提供机会以重新评估情况，以改善调查决策过程；同时增加了现有文献。