Massachusetts Trial Court

Ethnographic Research

Goal

Identify difficulties and frustrations in the trial court.

Methods

Participant observation, informal interviews

Contributions

Informal interviews and data collection through observation
Used grounded theory to analyze findings
Presented findings to the Boston Trial Court

Overview

we wanted to gain a broad overview of the problems that people might face and get a variety of perspectives. This work laid the groundwork for more focused research in the future.

Research Offers

Insight into difficulties people face in court
Prioritized list of improvements
First-hand experiences of real people
Compelling stories

The Process

Research Plan

In preparation for the study we first met with the team from the Office of Diversity, Equity Inclusion & Experience to understand what research questions were important to them, ensuring that our study would meet their needs.

Literature review
Data collection
Data analysis
Presentation

1.0 Literature Review

Discovery

We conducted a comprehensive literature review which included the work of Margaret Hagan who currently teaches at the Stanford Institute of Design and has done significant work with the court system in the Legal Design Lab.

2.0 Data Collection

Discovery

We recruited people as they entered the courthouse and followed them as the conducted their business (about 2-6 hours). We were able to sit with litigants as they went through mediation, waited in line, and a variety of other scenarios. After each session we recorded our notes in a shared team file.

3.0 Data Analysis

Discovery

Through the process of grounded theory we identified and grouped themes. As a team we analyzed the notes and coded them. As we did this it was clear to see where the significant problems were. We identified key stories that illustrated common problems. Data was organized by frequency and impact.

4.0 Presentation

Presentatoin

Key findings were presented to court officials including the Chief Justice of the MA Trial Court. We also provided a written report to outline the findings in detail.

Limits & Challenges

Limitations

Access- We worked closely with the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Experience to set up times when we would be able to have court officials accompany us in our research. Because of this, most of the research was collected at the Edward W. Brooke courthouse. In the future we would like to collect information from smaller courthouses.

Challenges

Emotions and Sensitive Info.- Many people were under significant stress. Participants were sometimes overcome by their emotions, making it difficult to ask questions about their experience. We were careful to not include sensitive or personally identifying information.

Results &
Reflections

Results

Foundation- Our team was able to lay the foundation for future work with the court. Since this study other Bentley HFID students have continued to conduct research.
Improved Experience- Our team identified changes that could be made to improve the experience in the court system. Because of the nature of the court system solutions may take some time to implement.
Positive Impact- I enjoyed working on a project that could have such a meaningful and positive impact.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Experience Team, John Laing (Chief Experience & Diversity Officer), Pavitra Chari, (Research Analyst), Isaac Tesfay, (Sr. Manager for Diversity), Robert Principe (Sr. Manager for Diversity), & Jessica Roman Alvarez (Administrative Assistant).