The forces of change: A qualitative analysis of perspectives on effective policing by Royal Canadian Mounted Police members

The once common practice of personality assessment in the context of personnel selection has become a controversial topic in psychology. This controversy may be unwarranted since many researchers have demonstrated that personality scales can be predictive of job performance. Some researchers have attempted to identify the personality traits common to effective police officers. Unfortunately, the most widely-used personality scales were developed to measure deviant personality traits and as such function better to screen-out less effective police applicants rather than screen-in the most effective police applicants. In order to evaluate the traits of both effective and less effective law enforcement officers, I interviewed 29 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Members from Depot Division and “F” Division (Saskatchewan). The semi-structured interviews were transcribed and then analysed using interpretational qualitative analysis. The constant comparative method was the specific technique utilised to code and understand these data. Interview quotes that were most relevant to the original research question have been highlighted in this thesis. Over seven successive phases of analyses these quotes were clustered into internally homogeneous and externally heterogeneous groups. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...