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68 Ind. L. J. 1209 (1992-1993)
Science and Ethics in Conducting, Analyzing, and Reporting Social Science Research: Implications for Social Scientists, Judges, and Lawyers

handle is hein.journals/indana68 and id is 1221 raw text is: Science and Ethics in Conducting, Analyzing, and Reporting Social Science Research: Implications for Social Scientists, Judges, and Lawyers ROBERT ROSENTHAL* PETER DAVID BLANCK* INTRODUCTION This Article describes a number of scientific, ethical, and legal issues relevant to conducting, analyzing, and reporting social science research. Legal literature has devoted little attention to examining the scientific and ethical issues in evaluating empirical social science research. This is particularly troubling in light of the fact that empirical research is presented with increasing regularity to judges and juries as trial evidence.' There is a strong relationship between the ethics, the scientific quality, and the evidentiary importance of the way social science research is conducted, analyzed, and reported. Everything else being equal, social science research of higher scientific quality is likely to be more ethically defensible and more relevant to the resolution of a legal dispute. The higher the quality of the research program, the better invested has been the time of the research participants, the funds of the granting agency, and the space of the journals that report the results, as well as the general investment that a legal fact finder (that is, a judge or jury) has made in evaluating the importance of the * Professor of Social Psychology, Harvard University. Ph.D., 1956, UCLA. Robert Rosenthal's preparation of this Article was supported in part by the Spencer Foundation. ** Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law; Senior Fellow, The Annenberg Washington Program. Ph.D., 1982, Harvard University; LD., 1986, Stanford University. The authors thank Michael Saks for his comments on earlier drafts of this Article. Peter David Blanck's preparation of this Article was supported in part by The Annenberg Washington Program. 1. See, e.g., Linda Greenhouse, Court Hears Case on Science RulesN.Y. TIMEs, Mar. 31, 1993, at AI9 (reporting U.S. Supreme Court's difficulty in deciding when scientific theory is sound enough to be admitted into evidence when it heard oral arguments in Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. 92-102 (U.S. argued Mar. 30, 1993)); Communicating with Juries, Panel One: Judge-Jury Communications: Improving Communications and Understanding Bias, The Annenberg Washington Program Conference, April 10, 1992, 68 IND. L.L 1037, 1042 (1993) (statement of Robert Rosenthal) (cautioning against accepting results of one study without looking at results of similar studies). For examples of discussions of the legal relevance of research methodology and ethics, see JOHN MONAHAN & LAURENS WALKER, SOCIAL SCIENCE IN LAW (1989); Peter D. Blanck, Empirical Study of the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Methods, Preliminary Findings, and Implications, 22 N.M. L. REV. 119 (1992); Peter D. Blanck, On Integrating Persons with Mental Retardation: The ADA and ADR, 22 N.M. L. Rv. 259 (1992); Peter D. Blanck, The Emerging Work Force: Empirical Study of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 16 J. CORP. L. 693 (1991). 1209

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