Police Work Questionnaire

In the world of research the amount of topics to be studied are endless. Likewise, in the criminal justice community there are also an endless amount of topics for study. In this paper the process of gathering data will be discussed by constructing an analysis of the nature of police work. To be specific the dangers of the job of policing will be retrieved, through the development of a questionnaire that would be completed by police officers in two local departments. It is common wisdom both within and outside law enforcement circles that policing is dangerous business. While workers in several other U.S. occupations (for example, timber cutting, commercial fishing, and construction) are killed on the job at rates higher than police officers, …show more content…
It is essential to gear the questions toward the population to be studied. There are several ideas that should be avoided when designing questions such as, biased or leading questions, double-barreled questions, vague wording, assuming prior information on the part of the respondent. Another important idea is open-ended questions may elicit more details than closed-ended questions. In the questionnaire developed for this study the questions were divided into four sections; a) stressors inherent in police work, b) stressors arising internally from police department practices and policies, c) external stressors stemming from the criminal justice system and the society at large, d) internal stressors confronting individual officers. Under the first category, stressors inherent in police work the following are some sample questions; 1) What do you believe is the most dangerous part of your job?, 2) Are you regularly exposed to human indecency and pain?, 3) Is stress inherent in police work?, 4) Have you ever been in fear of your life? 5) What are some situations in which you have used your service weapon? 6) Are you a patrol officer?, 7) How does having a partner increase or decrease your stress at work?. For the second category, stressors arising internally from police department practices and policies, the sample questions are; 1) Which policies cause the most stress to you on the job? 2) What are the feelings toward the upper level command in your agency? 3) Have you or anyone you know been the subject of an internal affairs investigation? 4) Are you part of a minority group in your department? 5) What if anything, makes you feel supported by the agency you work for? 6) What is the training regime at your department? 7) How are officers rewarded for good work performance at your department? Examples of questions