Panel 1: Empirical Methods Showcase I (Experimental): Experiments, Survey-Experiments, and Surveys in the Psychology of Law

Chair:

Mark C. Suchman (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Papers:

Psychological Research: Understanding Responses to Law
Shari Seidman Diamond (Northwestern University), Janice Nadler (American Bar Foundation/Northwestern University)

Using Surveys in Psychology
Tom Tyler (New York University)

A Factorial Survey Experiment on Public Inferences about the Ideological Motivations of Social Scientists
Robert MacCoun (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract:

This session offers a window into an important class of research methods for the empirical study of law. Unlike more traditional methodology sessions, the panel will showcase ?methodology in action,? featuring substantive research projects that employ social-psychological experiments and surveys to address questions of broad interest to sociolegal scholars regardless of methodological orientation (or lack thereof). The session is one of several panels on research methodology, sponsored by the CRN on Realist and Empirical Methods. Using a somewhat novel format, these panels are designed to speak to methodological novices and experienced investigators alike. Each session will begin with a “pre-cussant,” who will describe the methodological terrain, highlighting common advantages and challenges of the focal techniques. This pre-cussion will be followed by substantive research presentations from investigators who are actively engaged in studies of this type. In the present session, three leading scholars in the psychology of law will draw on their own projects to illustrate the potential of surveys and survey-experiments for exploring legal psychology. Together, the pre-cussion and the research presentations will serve both to introduce the audience to possibly unfamiliar empirical techniques and to showcase the use of rigorous and creative methods in the service of intriguing and important substance.