Background
This article is based on research conducted for our ODR Party Engagement (OPEN) Project. For this project, RSI first conducted focus groups to understand how individuals perceive the trustworthiness and legitimacy of court communications about ODR. RSI then worked with an inclusive designer and an accessibility evaluator to create new communication materials — a notice, a website, a video and an interactive guide — to address the concerns of focus group participants.
Our most recent step was to run these new court resources through usability tests across the country with 20 total participants in five different locations: a rural town in New Hampshire; Baltimore, MD; Santa Fe and Española, NM; and Philadelphia, PA. The usability testers were demographically diverse: Nine identified as Black or African American, five identified as Hispanic or Latino, and five identified as White. Participants ranged in age from 27 to 67, all had an income less than $50,000, and 15 had earned a high school diploma or less.
Participants were presented with Jane’s situation. They were asked to step into her shoes and complete a series of tasks using the materials: reviewing the Notice of ODR to Defendants that they received with a summons, navigating the Home County Court ODR website, watching the informational video, using the Guide for Defendants and signing up for an account. By taking observational notes and asking follow-up questions, we obtained immediate feedback on how “Jane” felt about the materials and process overall.
Scenario 1
What might happen if Jane Roe is sued in small claims court and does not trust the court resources she receives? Envision Jane opening her mail and seeing a Notice to Defendants and a Summons. She probably feels overwhelmed, much like the participants of our initial focus group. Perhaps the stress of her prosecution is compounded by difficulties reading and understanding the dense text filling the Notice.
Maybe, like many others, Jane is concerned that the legitimate court documents are sophisticated scam mailers. She scans the materials for a phone number to verify the legitimacy of her case before proceeding to the ODR website listed. Unable to find a number, she decides to ignore the Notice and Summons, throwing it out and waiting for a second copy to arrive before realizing the case is real.
If Jane figures out how to get to the ODR website, she might initially think that it looks like a scam site. She is concerned that the ODR webpage does not have a .gov ending. Jane starts worrying she is going to give her computer a virus. She sees the option to sign in via Facebook and feels leery about her personal information being compromised if she were to register that way. The exclusion of a seal to match the court’s main website amplifies her skepticism regarding the security of the ODR website.
Further, Jane is confused by other aspects of the court resources. The ODR resources have too many options and Jane has difficulty identifying what her next step should be. Testimonials and social media buttons on the ODR website make it feel unprofessional. Jane longs for someone to help her but cannot find legal or court contacts in the printed or online documents.
Unfortunately, in this first scenario, Jane’s circumstances do not set her up for success. In fact, her feelings of overwhelm and trepidation could cause her to avoid acting in her case. She could fully withdraw from the negotiation process. In the worst case scenario, the conflict between Jane Roe and John Doe could extend for months after the missed opportunity to use ODR, unnecessarily stressing both parties and depleting limited court resources.
Scenario 2
What if, instead, Jane receives an ODR notice and court materials that make her feel comfortable and supported? This time, Jane opens the mail to find a Notice to Defendants with the court’s name, address and seal at the top. Scanning two short introduction paragraphs, she reads that she has to use something called Online Dispute Resolution to try and settle her small claims case. She grows frustrated by the situation … until she inspects the rest of the court document. Then she starts to think that maybe, just maybe, this will not be too bad.