Investigative Decision-Making

Investigative Decision-Making

The process of making informed decisions during an investigation by gathering and analyzing information to determine the best course of action.

Information Gathering

The first step in investigative decision-making, which involves gathering as much information as possible, including witness statements, physical evidence, and other relevant data.

Analysis

The process of looking for patterns, inconsistencies, and other clues in the gathered information to make informed decisions during an investigation.

Decision-Making

The process of making decisions about how to proceed with the investigation based on the analysis of the gathered information, including deciding which leads to follow up on, which witnesses to interview, and which pieces of evidence to prioritize.

Documentation

The process of documenting everything throughout the investigative process, including notes from interviews, photographs of evidence, and any other relevant information to stay organized and make informed decisions.

Collaboration

The process of working with other professionals, such as law enforcement officers, forensic experts, and attorneys, to gather more information and make better decisions.

Naturalistic Decision-Making (NDM) Approach

An approach to decision-making that focuses on ecologically valid problem-driven methods, emphasizing expertise and considering the context in which decision-makers operate.

Decision Inertia

A body of research that has emerged in the twenty-first century, encompassing three subcategories: decision avoidance, redundant deliberation, and implementation failure, and including context in its broadest sense, including organizational, political, and cultural influences.

Pascal's Theory of Economic Utility

A theory that suggests humans make rational decisions to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Bernoulli's Theory of Risk-Aversion

A theory that agrees with Pascal's theory but argues that people are risk-averse and choose the safest option.

Game Theory

A theory that suggests decision-making is rational but also interdependent, considering the influence of others.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts to facilitate quick decision-making in real-life situations with ambiguity, limited time, and intense pressure.

Biases

Belief persistence and confirmation bias that can be particularly relevant to investigative decision-making.

Gigerenzer's "Fast and Frugal" Heuristics Approach

An approach that suggests ignoring some information can lead to more efficient thinking and improve accuracy.

"Less-is-More" Effect

A phenomenon that improves decision-making by using heuristics.

Applied FFH Approach

An approach that has been applied to investigative decision-making, highlighting its usefulness in this field.

Take-the-Best Heuristic

A heuristic that both experienced burglars and police officers relied on when appraising which properties were more likely to be burgled.

Subjective Expected Utility (SEU)

A decision-making model that considers the probability and value of potential outcomes. It assumes individuals make rational choices based on their personal preferences and beliefs about the likelihood of outcomes.

Traditional decision-making theory (TDT)

Theory that assumes people make rational decisions by weighing the pros and cons of each option based on available information and choosing the one with the highest expected utility.

belief persistence

Tendency to maintain initial beliefs despite contradictory evidence.

confirmation bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms preexisting beliefs or hypotheses

Senior Investigating Officer’s (SIO)

Responsible for leading and managing complex criminal investigations

Recognition Primed Decision-making (RPD)

A decision-making process used by experts in which they quickly identify a problem and draw on past experiences to generate and evaluate potential solutions. It is based on pattern recognition and intuition rather than a step-by-step analysis.

Redundant Deliberation (RD)

A decision-making bias where individuals spend excessive time discussing information that has already been presented or is irrelevant to the decision. This leads to delays in decision-making and can hinder the effectiveness of group decision-making processes.

Decision avoidance

The tendency to delay making a choice or taking action due to fear of making the wrong decision or facing negative consequences.