The Next Step: Research on How Dispute System Design affects Function

Despite claims that ADR offers “better” solutions than tradiational approaches (such as the courts), the field of dispute resolution has trouble proving its case. The reason is that we lack basen-line data on the effective ness of both tradiatonal and nontraditional dispute resolution methods. Praqctitioners and researchers of dispule resolution should work together and in collaboration with public and private sector institutions to incorporate systemized data collection and evaluation into ADR practice. The growing subfield of dispute system design offers particularly rich ground for such collaboration between the research and practice communities.