#328 - The Do's and Don'ts of Jury Research in Medical Malpractice Cases

Sarah Burton, Ph.D. joins Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. to talk about some do's and don'ts of jury research in medical malpractice cases.

Sarah's Don'ts:

- Don't go into a focus group expecting to predict the verdict - the purpose of focus group research is to understand how jurors interpret the evidence and what does and does not resonate

- Don't start your research with a mock trial - focus groups (exploratory research) should be the first step in jury research rather than mock trials which are confirmatory research projects

- Don't argue or advocate in a focus group - the problem when not taking a neutral approach to the presentation is it invites presenter bias

- Don't assume jurors understand what you are presenting - you must assess juror comprehension before diving into their feedback

- Don't make assumptions about how witnesses will perform - testing each of your key witnesses with jurors in a focus group is critically important

Sarah's Do's:

- Do focus on the why behind the attitudes and perspectives the jurors are sharing

- Do listen more than you talk

- Do be balanced and neutral

- Do video all witnesses at deposition to test in focus group jury research

- Do test your case early and often - apply the scientific method

Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/dT4Mh3RAXQ0