Part 1 of Essay
Quantitative research has dominated , but it seems to lack the flexibility needed to link pretrial research to ongoing courtroom events. Participant observationis a methodology which seems more suitable for studying the dynamic environment of a trial. A 6-day civil trial is used to evaluate participant observation reports ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... tendencies during voir dire (Abbott, 1987). Another purpose of quantitative techniques, which is used less often, is to focus strategic themes and arguments for trial. Nonetheless, quantitative designs have been strongly criticized (Saks, 1976), in large part because they tend to fall short when used as the principle methodology to anticipate the essentially dynamic character of a trial. The tactical environment of an ongoing trial is fluid. Quantitative methodologies appear to lack the requisite flexibil ....