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Biography:
As Research Director of the Lodestar Dispute Resolution Program, Dr. Wissler conducts empirical research on mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes. Her research and writing address various policy issues relating to ADR processes and examine the factors that contribute to the use and effectiveness of ADR. Her other research interests include alternate compensation systems and decision making concerning liability and damages in civil cases.
Dr. Wissler has served as a research consultant to several state and federal courts, conducting empirical research to assess the effectiveness of their mediation and arbitration programs and to address questions regarding program policy and design. She was a member of the Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution and was principal author of the Task Force Report. Dr. Wissler also was a member of the panel of consultants in the Federal Judicial Center’s Program for Consultations in Dispute Resolution, providing federal courts with technical assistance on evaluating ADR programs. She has served on the advisory board of a number of ADR research projects.
Before coming to the College of Law in 2003, Dr. Wissler was Co-Principal Investigator of the Project on Noneconomic Damages Decision Making and Director of Research for the Libel Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Education:
PhD Psychology and Social Structure, Boston College 1986
MA Psychology and Social Structure, Boston College 1982
BA Psychology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania 1979
Research Website URL:
Research Interests:
Roselle Wissler conducts empirical research on mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes. Her research and writing address various policy issues relating to ADR processes and examine the factors that contribute to the use and effectiveness of ADR. Her other research interests include alternate compensation systems and decision making concerning liability and damages in civil cases.
Publications:
- Wissler & Hinshaw, The Initial Mediation Session: An Empirical Examination, 27 Harvard Negotiation Law Review (in press)
- Wissler & Hinshaw, What Happens Before the First Mediation Session? An Empirical Study of Pre-Session Communications, 23 Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution (in press)
- Wissler & Weiner, How Do Mediator Actions Affect Mediation Outcomes? The Report of the Section’s Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques Offers a Few Clues, 24 Dispute Resolution Magazine 16 (2017)
- Report of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques (principal author) (June 2017); available online at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution.html
- Saks, Danvers, Wissler, Voytyuk, Williams, Baker, & Votruba, Psychological Aspects of Food Biodesign, 56 Jurimetrics 165 (2016)
- Wissler, Williams, & Saks, Dual-Processing Models of Admissibility: How Legal Tests for the Admissibility of Scientific Evidence Resemble Cognitive Science’s System 1 and System 2, 17 Virginia Journal of Law & Technology 354 (2013)
- Wissler, Court-Connected Settlement Procedures: Mediation and Judicial Settlement Conferences, 26 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 271 (2011)
- Wissler, Party Participation and Voice in Mediation, 18 Dispute Resolution Magazine 20 (Fall 2011)
- Wissler, Judicial Settlement Conferences and Staff Mediation: Empirical Research Findings, 17 Dispute Resolution Magazine 18 (Summer 2011)
- Wissler, Representation in Mediation: What We Know from Empirical Research, 37 Fordham Urban L. J. 419 (2010)
- Wissler, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law (B. Cutler, Ed.) (2008)
- Wissler & Dauber, Court-Connected Arbitration in the Superior Court of Arizona: A Study of Its Performance and Proposed Rule Changes, 2007 Journal of Dispute Resolution 65 (2007)
- Wissler & Dauber, Court-Related Arbitration: Access, If Not Efficiency, 13 Dispute Resolution Magazine 35 (Summer 2007)
- Wissler & Dauber, Compulsory Arbitration Changes Proposed: Time to Comment, 43 Arizona Attorney 26 (March 2007)
- Wissler & Dauber, The Effects of an ADR "Confer and Report" Rule, 12 Dispute Resolution Magazine 27 (Summer 2006)
- Wissler, The Role of Antecedent and Procedural Characteristics in Mediation: A Review of the Research, in The Blackwell Handbook of Mediation: Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice 129 (M. Herrman, Ed.) (2006)
- Wissler & Dauber, Leading Horses to Water: The Impact of an ADR “Confer and Report” Rule on Settlement and ADR Use, 26 Justice System Journal 253 (2005)
- Hinshaw & Wissler, How Do We Know that Mediation Training Works? 12 Dispute Resolution Magazine 21 (Fall 2005)
- Wissler & Dauber, Mandatory Arbitration in Arizona: Structure and Performance, 42 Arizona Attorney 18 (October 2005)
- Dauber & Wissler, Lawyer Views on Mandatory Arbitration, 41 Arizona Attorney 32 (July/August 2005)
- Wissler, The Effectiveness of Court-Connected Dispute Resolution in Civil Cases, 22 Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 55 (2004)
- Wissler & Rack, Jr., Assessing Mediator Performance: The Usefulness of Participant Questionnaires, 2004 Journal of Dispute Resolution 229 (2004)
- Wissler, Barriers to Attorneys’ Discussion and Use of ADR, 19 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 459 (2004)
- Wissler & Rack, Jr., Using Participant Questionnaires to Assess Mediator Performance, 11 Dispute Resolution Magazine 33 (2004)
- Wissler, Barriers to Attorneys’ Discussion and Use of ADR, 10 Dispute Resolution Magazine 27 (Fall 2003)
- McAdoo, Welsh, &Wissler, Institutionalization: What Do Empirical Studies Tell Us About Court Mediation? 9 Dispute Resolution Magazine 8 (Winter 2003)
- Wissler, Court-Connected Mediation in General Civil Cases: What We Know from Empirical Research, 17 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 641 (2002)
- Wissler, When Does Familiarity Breed Content? A Study of the Role of Different Forms of ADR Education and Experience in Attorneys’ ADR Recommendations, 2 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 199 (2002)
- McEwen & Wissler, Finding Out If It Is True: Comparing Mediation and Negotiation Through Research, 2002 Journal of Dispute Resolution 131 (2002)
- Cialdini, Wissler, & Schweitzer, The Science of Influence: Using Six Principles of Persuasion to Negotiate and Mediate More Effectively, 9 Dispute Resolution Magazine 20 (Fall 2002)
- Wissler, Civil Mediation: Which Cases Will Settle?, 8 Dispute Resolution Magazine 28 (Summer 2002)
- Wissler, Court-Connected Mediation, 8 Dispute Resolution Magazine 30 (Spring 2002)
- Wissler, Rector, & Saks, The Impact of Jury Instructions on the Fusion of Liability and Compensatory Damages, 25 Law and Human Behavior 125 (2001)
- Wissler, To Evaluate or Facilitate? Parties’ Perceptions of Mediation Affected by Mediator Style, 7 Dispute Resolution Magazine 35 (2001)
- Wissler, Kuehn, & Saks, Instructing Jurors on General Damages in Personal Injury Cases: Problems and Possibilities, 6 Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 712 (2000)
- Wissler, Attorneys’ Use of ADR Is Crucial to Their Willingness to Recommend it to Clients, 6 Dispute Resolution Magazine 36 (2000)
- Marti & Wissler, Be Careful What You Ask For: The Effect of Anchors on Personal Injury Damages Awards, 6 Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied 91 (2000)
- Wissler, Hart, & Saks, Decisionmaking About General Damages: A Comparison of Jurors, Judges, and Lawyers, 98 Michigan Law Review 751 (1999)
- Wissler, Family Law Mediation, 6 Dispute Resolution Magazine 29 (1999)
- Wissler, A Closer Look at Settlement Week, 4 Dispute Resolution Magazine 28 (1998)
- Wissler, The Effects of Mandatory Mediation: Empirical Research on the Experience of Small Claims and Common Pleas Courts, 33 Willamette Law Review 565 (1997)
- Wissler, Evans, Hart, Morry, & Saks, Explaining "Pain and Suffering" Awards: The Role of Injury Characteristics and Fault Attributions, 21 Law and Human Behavior 181 (1997)
- Hart, Evans, Wissler, Feehan, & Saks, Injuries, Prior Beliefs, and Damage Awards, 15 Behavioral Sciences and the Law 63 (1997)
- Saks, Hollinger, Wissler, Evans, & Hart, Reducing Variability in Civil Jury Awards, 21 Law and Human Behavior 243 (1997)
- Hart, Wissler, & Saks, Multidimensional Perceptions of Illness and Injury, 2(4) Current Research in Social Psychology 30 (1997)
- Wissler, Mediation and Adjudication in Small Claims Court: The Effects of Process and Case Characteristics, 29 Law & Society Review 323 (1995)
Research Activity:
- Dauber,Mark Robert*, Wissler,Roselle Louise. An Evaluation of the Arizona Compulsory Arbitration System. AZ SUPREME COURT(4/23/2004 - 12/31/2006).
Honors / Awards:
Dr. Wissler’s article, Court-Connected Settlement Procedures: Mediation and Judicial Settlement Conferences, published in the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, received the award for the Outstanding Original Professional Article published in 2011 from the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). The award recognizes “an article published by academics and other professionals that advances understanding in the field of ADR.”
Dr. Wissler’s article, The Effectiveness of Court-Connected Dispute Resolution in Civil Cases, published in the Conflict Resolution Quarterly in 2004, was named one of the “Most Influential Works in Alternative Dispute Resolution” in the 30th Anniversary Symposium of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution.
Service:
- Member, American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques
- Consultant on ADR Program Monitoring and Evaluation, Program for Consultations in Dispute Resolution, Federal Judicial Center
- Advisory Board Member, Federal Judicial Center, Study of ADR in Federal Courts
- Advisory Board Member, Resource Center for Court ADR Project, Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems
- Advisory Board Member, Maryland Judiciary Administrative Office of the Courts, Court Research and Development, Project to Analyze the Cost, Benefit, and Effectiveness of ADR in Maryland
- Advisory Board Member, Florida Mediation Training Assessment Project, Florida Dispute Resolution Center
- Reviewer, National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences Program
- Reviewer, Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Reviewer, Jurimetrics
- Reviewer, Law and Human Behavior
- Reviewer, Law and Society Review
- Reviewer, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
- Reviewer, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research
Expertise Areas: