From Classroom to Cuffs: Evaluating the Fieldwork Readiness and Performance of Junior Officers

Abstract

This quantitative descriptive-correlational study examined fieldwork readiness and fieldwork performance ratings concerning junior officers in selected Philippine National Police (PNP) stations in Talibon, Dagohoy, San Miguel, Trinidad, and Bien Unido, Second District of Bohol. Ninety-seven PNP personnel—61 Police Commissioned Officers and 36 Police Non-Commissioned Officers—completed a structured questionnaire. The study assessed readiness in knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes; and performance in task performance, decision-making ability, and professional conduct. The reported overall means were 4.37 for readiness and 4.45 for performance, and the reported correlation between the two rating composites was r = .678, p < .001. These are respondent ratings, not independent tests of operational competence. The available manuscript and thesis contain unresolved discrepancies in the group-comparison statistics and in readiness means by educational attainment. Accordingly, inferential comparisons are treated as provisional and should not be interpreted until the original SPSS output and data are rechecked. The study identifies local evidence needs in the Second District of Bohol and suggests priorities for procedural, investigative, situational-judgment, and mentoring activities. The findings are limited by the use of a single questionnaire source and by unavailable information on officer-to-rater mapping, data-collection dates, station-level clustering, and formal ethics review.