Investigation skills are crucial for many professionals, including journalists, researchers, and detectives, but they’re also highly beneficial across many professions, especially in the business, law, health care and technology industries.

Developing strong investigation skills can help you advance in your career and highlight your ability to gather and analyse information for employers. Investigation skills are fundamental in problem-solving, decision-making, and information gathering. They help professionals to analyse complex situations, uncover facts, and make informed decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions. In this article, we define investigative skills and list the techniques that help your career, regardless of your profession.

What are Investigation Skills?

Investigation skills are the techniques used to gather data and produce conclusions to reveal important facts. These skills also help professionals investigate a topic closely to discover important details that may not have been clear to those who lack this skill. Professionals who often use investigative skills include:

• Investigative journalist
• Detective
• Private investigator
• Academic researcher
• Lawyer
• Business director
• Forensic accountant
• Forensic scientist
• Police officer
• Anthropologist
• Art historian

1. Analytical Thinking

Analysing information critically is crucial to all aspects of your personal and professional life. When you have high-level analytical skills, you’re better able to objectively access the information, arguments, and ideas you need to make rational decisions. As a result, you also have enhanced problem-solving abilities, which leads to better outcomes.

2. Attention to Detail

When you are adept at paying close attention to details, you take your abilities from average to exceptional, both professionally and personally. You can better identify nuances, patterns, and inconsistencies that others might overlook, leading to important insights that enhance the outcome of a project, investigation, or decision-making process. The ability to notice what most overlook is particularly valuable in fields such as research, law, healthcare, and engineering, where precision and accuracy are crucial. You can improve these skills incrementally by practising active listening, using effective note-taking strategies, making checklists, engaging in mindfulness, breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable parts, ensuring adequate rest, and seeking feedback.

3. Research Skills

Undertaking effective research is a complex skill that involves identifying reliable sources, utilising various research tools, and continuously seeking opportunities to enhance your capabilities. Regularly engaging in practical research activities, staying curious and developing your critical thinking skills will improve your research proficiency and contribute successfully to your field of study or professional practice.

4. Interviewing Techniques

In professions like journalism, research, and counselling, getting in-depth, honest answers from people requires excellent questioning and listening skills. You’ll be more likely to gain helpful information by asking open-ended questions. It’s also important to create an environment supportive of disclosure by using active listening skills and demonstrating empathy. When you gain professional interviewing techniques, interview results are improved, and you access more insightful data.

5. Technical Proficiency

In the digital era, journalism, law enforcement, and market research professionals should be competent in using investigative tools and databases, making tech skills a must. These investigative skills enhance investigative efficiency through effective data processing and research. To keep pace with technological advancements, professionals can leverage online learning platforms such as Coursera, edX, and LinkedIn Learning alongside industry workshops and webinars. These resources offer extensive learning on topics like cybersecurity, digital forensics, and data analysis, tailored to the evolving needs of various professions.

6. Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning is essential for handling complicated situations because it enables you to break down issues, recognise underlying trends, and methodically develop workable solutions. Participating in discussions can help you hone critical thinking and reasoning skills. Working through logic puzzles, such as Sudoku, can also help to improve your deductive reasoning and problem-solving ability. Engaging in these activities enhances your ability to reason logically and sharpens your ability to think clearly and reason through difficult situations at work or in your personal life.

7. Ethical Judgement

Ethics are critical to investigation skills to ensure integrity, accountability, and respect for privacy and rights. To make ethical decisions, professionals must follow established codes of conduct that specify appropriate practices and standards. These standards include gaining informed consent, respecting confidentiality, avoiding conflicts of interest, and assuring accuracy and fairness. When ethical judgement is employed, you gain people’s trust, and the integrity and professionalism of your investigative work is protected.

8. Networking and Relationship Building

Building a vast network of contacts helps you gather diverse insights, opening doors to various perspectives, expertise and resources. Successful networking strategies include actively attending professional events, leveraging social media platforms to connect with industry leaders, and participating in forums and discussion groups related to your field. Whether online or in-person, maintaining a genuine interest in others, offering mutual support, and consistently following up strengthens your relationships and expands your professional network, enhancing your ability to gain valuable information.

9. Persistence and Patience

Persistence and patience are crucial in investigations because the process often involves navigating complex information, encountering dead ends, and overcoming unexpected challenges. The answers you’re seeking may not come easily or quickly, requiring you to persist through periods of uncertainty and frustration. Perseverance ensures that investigations are comprehensive, and conclusions are well-founded, ultimately leading to more accurate and reliable outcomes!

10. Adaptability and Flexibility

Being adaptable and flexible is essential in the ever-changing environment in which investigators work. These traits allow you to respond effectively to new information and situations. You can improve your adaptability and flexibility by practising improvisation exercises to enhance quick, creative thinking and adopting a growth mindset, which views challenges as learning opportunities. When you wholeheartedly adopt these strategies, you will develop resilience, innovative thinking, and a positive response in the face of change.

Introduction to Investigative Techniques

If you’d like to improve your investigation skills, take a look at our Introduction to Investigative Techniques.  You’ll learn the essential tools and insights necessary to investigate people, places, and events to determine accurate factual information for criminal investigation, investigative journalism, academic research, and legal, financial, or other contexts.

What You’ll Learn:

• Investigative techniques
• What is investigation?
• Why are investigations carried out?
• Who uses investigative skills?
• Important skills and traits
• Personality traits
• How to be an excellent active listener
• Observational skills
• Techniques to improve observation skills
• Problem-solving
• Research skills
• Good interview skills
• Critical thinking
• Emotional intelligence and social intelligence
• Empathy, courage and self-belief
• Collecting evidence
• Investigative bodies
• Professions
• Investigative bodies are associated with investigating
• Record searching skills
• Documents
• Types of records
• Transitory/convenience records
• Why investigators carry out record searches
• Conducting record searches
• Offline searches
• Online searches
• Types of documents
• Primary documents
• Social Security numbers (SSN)
• Tax file number (TFN
• Secondary Documents
• Surveillance
• What is surveillance?
• Why do people carry out surveillance?
• Ethics of surveillance
• Bias in surveillance
• Types of surveillance
• Methods of surveillance
• Physical surveillance features
• Physical surveillance tips
• Technical & electronic surveillance features
• Prudence in surveillance
• Preplanning
• Legal considerations
• Casing
• Knowing the subject
• Interview skills
• Interview vs interrogation
• Why do we use interviews?
• Open and closed questions
• Types of interviews
• Advantages of interviews
• Quantitative vs qualitative data
• Limitations of interviews
• Planning an interview
• Background information
• Number of interviewers
• Gender
• Time of day
• Venue
• Keeping records
• Designing an interview
• Step 1: goal setting
• Example: journalistic investigations
• Example: criminal investigations
• Example: academic investigations
• Step 2: Choosing questions
• Step 3: Uncovering lies, fabrications, and misleading responses
• Step 4: Gathering data from interviews
• Ethical practice in interviewing
• Ethical issues
• Survey formats
• The survey interview
• Face-to-face survey interviews
• Telephone interviews
• Focus groups
• Survey panels
• Survey design – fit for purpose
• The survey questions
• Target audience
• Sampling
• Administration
• Analysis
• Surveys as an investigative tool
• Validity
• Limitations of surveys
• Types of evidence
• Analysing evidence
• Physical evidence
• Blood analysis
• DNA evidence
• Impression evidence
• Fingerprint collection and analysis
• Cyber or digital evidence
• Behavioural evidence
• CCTV evidence
• Public sector investigations
• Fraud
• Benefit fraud
• Procurement or tender fraud
• Conflicts of interest
• Investigating public sector industries
• Transport
• Public health
• People involved in investigating the public sector
• Whistleblowers
• Moles
• Forensic accountants
• Ombudsmen
• Anti-corruption watchdogs
• The private sector
• Private sector investigations
• Some types of private-sector investigations
• Discrimination
• False qualifications
• Overseas money trails
• Embezzlement
• Fraud
• Media and online investigations
• Assessing vulnerabilities
• Security posture
• Performing a vulnerability assessment
• Threats and risk assessment
• Some types of online threats
• Hacking
• Scams and scammers
• Threats from inside
• Insider trading
• The dark web
• Trolling
• Cyberbullying
• Online investigation techniques
• Ways to deal with online and media crimes
• Cybersecurity
• Events monitoring
• Centralised vs distributed data collection
• Cyber forensics

 

* Please note that if you want to become a private investigator, you must apply for a private investigator licence.

 

Can we help you get there? Contact one of our friendly Course Consultants today on Live Chat or 1300 76 2221 to learn more about this professional development program. We’d love to help you find your new direction!