For the next series of posts, we will be focusing on ways to improve DIY approaches to jury and case presentation research. In these blogs we’ll look at the matrix or standards that are usually applied to any formal social science research. We will also look at some basic secondary research strategies and suggest a few best practices for sorting through data during a jury selection project.
There are many problems areas in conducting social research that are well documented. At first blush, executing discussion groups appears to be a simple task requiring a congenial moderator and some talkative participants. On the surface that’s what it often looks like. But like all research how the research team, DIY or professional, approaches fielding the research is critical to the project’s overall success. Things can go wrong very quickly if certain basic are not attended too. The top three problem areas are recruiting, discussion setting and moderator approach. We’ll be taking a look at issues connected to these three critical areas and offer our suggestion for how to improve your DIY efforts while getting the most out of you research investment. But before we get into the weeds our next post will deal with a topic everyone is asking questions about – using social media to support jury selection strategies.