You have certainly heard many lawyer jokes, some of which are pretty funny. But have you ever thought of them as data for a scientific study? Marc Galanter did. He’s a Wisconsin law professor and giant in our DR field. In a recent post in this Stone Soup mini-course, I summarized some cool qualitative studies. … Continue reading Stone Soup Mini-Course: Galanter’s Use of Lawyer Jokes as Data
The last lesson in the Stone Soup mini-course cautioned about having exaggerated confidence in quantitative research about dispute resolution. This lesson is intended as an antidote to unwarranted skepticism about qualitative research by describing some examples of great qualitative research. Both types of methods are valuable, especially when used in combination. I focus particularly on … Continue reading Stone Soup Mini-Course: Cool Qualitative Research
I know (?) that this sounds like another one of my dumb questions. But since academics and other professionals are in the knowledge business, it’s worth our considering the question, which we will discuss in this installment of the Stone Soup mini-course. We all know that 2+2=4, Google is a search engine, and murder is … Continue reading Stone Soup Mini-Course: What Is Knowledge?
This is the first installment of an online mini-course about social science research methods relevant to the Stone Soup Dispute Resolution Knowledge Project. When considering whether to develop a database, some people expressed concerns about the value and validity of the case reports we contemplated. I think that some of these concerns were based on … Continue reading Introduction to the Stone Soup Project Mini-Course
The Stone Soup Dispute Resolution Knowledge Project encourages faculty to assign students to collect qualitative data about actual dispute resolution practice. Many faculty require students to conduct interviews of practitioners or parties. You may require students to write papers analyzing their interviews, though you may discuss the interviews in (and out of) class without requiring … Continue reading Stone Soup Documents For Interview Assignments
In a series of posts, particularly this one, I wrote that the University of Missouri had tentatively planned to develop a database of reports about actual cases. As described in my post, Creating Knowledge Together, the underlying goal was for faculty, students, scholars, practitioners, educational institutions, and professional associations to collaborate to produce, disseminate, and … Continue reading Creating Knowledge Together, Part 2: Revised Plans for The Stone Soup Project
My colleague, Rafael Gely, and I are developing the University of Missouri “Stone Soup” Case Database project as I previously mentioned. This post includes links to some short documents with more detail about the content and process of our planning. And it invites you to respond with your comments, suggestions, and commitments to participate. Overview … Continue reading Developing the University of Missouri “Stone Soup” Case Database
Several years ago, I had the chance to tag along on a European tour with Missouri’s University Singers. My friend, Paul Crabb, the choral director, talked with his students in the group about the pleasure of “making music together.” The idea that they were “making” the music may seem odd at first considering that they … Continue reading Creating Knowledge Together: Rationale for Building a Social Science Case Database
In January, I described how my colleague, Rafael Gely, assigned his negotiation class to interview people about actual negotiations and write papers with detailed accounts of the cases. This assignment has intrinsic value as an educational experience for the students and it served as a test run for the University of Missouri “Stone Soup” Project … Continue reading Real Negotiations
TPKATVT is back. It actually hadn’t gone away, though I hadn’t seen signs of it for a while. TPKATVT, aka The Phenomenon Known as the Vanishing Trial, got started by a 2004 report written by Professor Marc Galanter, The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State Courts. Each year … Continue reading TPKATVT
