Of the first 225 exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals in the United States by the Innocence Project, 77% were based on mistaken eyewitness identifications. Given the mounting evidence on reliability issues surrounding eyewitness testimony, coupled with the fact that forensic evidence is neither infallible nor always available, it becomes important to better understand how jurors use these different types of evidence in their decision making. The current research seeks to fill a void in the literature by evaluating the influence of eyewitness testimony on case outcomes while accounting for other types of evidence (e.g., DNA). Although the results underscore the value of forensic DNA evidence, they also highlight the importance of eyewitness testimony in juror decision making. In fact, both pretrial perceptions of the reliability of eyewitness evidence and the credibility of an eyewitness during trial significantly impact the desired verdict for jurors above and beyond other types of evidence. Implications for case processing and avenues for future research are discussed.
In this mixed-methods study, librarians at Kennesaw State University Library System conducted a year-long design research project to create a flexible subject guide “blueprint” for undergraduate students using LibGuides. Methods included a card sorting study with 18 undergraduate students and usability testing with 40 undergraduate students. The study’s goals were to identify what content, aesthetic design, organization, and structure students preferred on a subject guide. This paper addresses the current literature on research guides usability, overviews the design and implementation of the study, and highlights practical results that will easily be transferrable to other libraries.
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