An analysis of the decision-making process of the juror in a civil jury trial

A qualitative paradigm was used to study 58 jurors from six civil jury trials involving a corporate defendant. The purpose of the study was to generate a grounded theory of juridic decision-making by incorporating the perspectives of the individual jurors and the dynamics of the jury trial process. The data included juror interviews, field notes, and naturalistic observations of the juridic process which occurred over a four year period. A grounded theory of juror decision-making consisting of five stages and three mediating constraints was generated through an analytic induction method of data analysis and was reported in the literature for the first time. The five stages of juror decision-making were: Stage 1 Formulation of the Story; Stage 2 Support with Evidence; Stage 3 Deliberation; Stage 4 The Verdict; Stage 5 Announcement and Affirmation. The three mediating constraints included the cognitive, affiliative, and egocentric constraints. The usefulness of Janis\u27 Constraints Model of Decision Making (1989) was validated in the findings of the effect of the constraints upon the jurors\u27 stages of decision making. The juridic process was characterized by the jurors\u27 need to formulate a story early in the trial. The jurors supported their story through the first few days of the proceedings. The cognitive constraint mediated stages one and two through the jurors\u27 ability to comprehend, the limits on jurors\u27 informational resources, and the jurors\u27 ability to form a decision based upon available standards for comparison. The affiliative and egocentric constraints mediated Stages 3 and 4 with perceived time limitations, a need to meet the perceived expectations of the judge, a need to relate personal experiences to the facts, and an impatience to conclude the process through a verdict. Stage 5 represented closure through the foreperson\u27s announcement of the decision and the individual juror\u27s affirmation to the court