NCJ Number
233846
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2011 Pages: 90-125
Date Published
February 2011
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses statistical techniques that could be used in jury selection.
Abstract
Juror and jury research is a thriving area of investigation in legal psychology. The basic ANOVA and regression, well-known by psychologists, are inappropriate for analyzing many types of data from this area of research. This paper describes statistical techniques suitable for some of the main questions asked by jury researchers. First, the authors discuss how to examine manipulations that may affect levels of reasonable doubt and how to measure reasonable doubt using the coefficients estimated from a logistic regression. Second, they compare models designed for analyzing the data like those which often arise in research where jurors first make categorical judgments (e.g., negligent or not, guilty or not) and then dependent on their response may make another judgment (e.g., award, punishment). The authors concentrate on zero-inflated and hurdle models. Third, they examine how to take into account that jurors are part of a jury using multilevel modeling. The authors illustrate each of the techniques using software that can be downloaded for free from the Internet (the package R) and provide a Web page that gives further details for running these analyses. Figures and references (Published Abstract)