The page answers some questions you may have about Fair Trial Analysis. If you have other questions, please contact us.
Where does the data come from?
We analyze the thoughts and opinions of ordinary men and women from all over the United States. To do our work efficiently, we use brief, self-administered online surveys using Qualtrics. We pay people who do human intelligence tasks on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform to take the surveys.
Is the data good?
Even though our brief surveys are answered by random strangers working online, the data is very good. We can learn a lot more by quickly surveying the thoughts and opinions of hundreds, or thousands of people, than we can by putting a few people through a full trial experience.
What is the ideal survey size?
Larger samples have smaller margins of error, but they cost more. There are also diminishing returns to sample size. For a good, quick approximation of survey margin of error, use +/- 100% divided by the square root of sample size (i.e. with n=100, you have +/- 10% margin of error). The ideal survey size depends on the stakes involved, but the “sweet spot” for precision and cost is around n=600 to 1,000.
What type of reports do you write?
For standard analysis, the end product is brief preliminary analysis of sample survey data. It would include information about the sample (like respondent characteristics and sample size), a table summarizing respondents’ verdict preferences, a table and figure summarizing probable jury verdicts, and an AI content analysis of respondents’ written comments. This preliminary report is akin to a “scouting report” to help clients make decisions; it is not a complete report ready to be filed for litigation purposes. If we can be of further assistance after completing preliminary analysis, please let us know.
What is a trial condition?
A trial condition is a version of a trial presented to a jury. It is akin to an experimental condition, like the treatment and control conditions of a randomized clinical trial. If a trial has not happened yet, trial conditions are version of trials that could happen, depending on, for example, your trial strategy. If a trial has already happened, that trial is one condition that may be compared to other versions of the trial, such as a trial without errors at issue on appeal, or a new trial requested in post-conviction proceedings.
What is a trial summary?
A trial summary is a brief description of a trial that can be incorporated into an online survey and read by survey respondents. It is similar to the brief summary of trial included in many appellate court opinions. The trial summary, or summaries, should be concise, around 500 words. Most trial summaries are written as vignettes, but it is possible to incorporate images, audio, and video into trial summaries, depending on the case and situation. The trial summary should be a fair, unbiased description of a trial condition; it does not advocate or argue for a particular outcome.