University of Tokyo

Abstract
Survey Number 1041
Survey Title Litigation Behavior Survey, 2005-2006
Depositor Masayuki Murayama
Restriction of Use For detailed information, please refer to 'For Data Users' at SSJDA website.

- Apply to SSJDA. Depositor's approval required.
Educational Purpose Available for both research and instructional purposes.
Period of Data Use Permission One year
Access to Datasets Download
Nesstar Not available
Summary With the objective of understanding the entire process of a civil dispute, the specially promoted research on “Dispute Resolution and Civil Justice in the Legalizing Society” divided the process into three sub-processes and conducted one national survey for each. The three surveys were the “Disputing Behavior Survey,” which focused on the stage between the problem and the dispute, the “Legal Advice Seeking Behavior Survey,” which focused on the stage of legal advice-seeking behavior for problem-solving, and the “Litigation Behavior Survey,” which focused on the stage of litigation behavior after the lawsuit is filed.

This is the “Litigation Behavior Survey.” The “Disputing Behavior Survey” and the “Legal Advice Seeking Behavior” were published under survey numbers 1039 and 1040 respectively.

This survey is the combination of four surveys: “Civil Litigation National Survey/Case Record Survey,” “Nationwide Civil Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers Survey,” “Nationwide Civil Litigation General Public Survey,” and “Internet Survey.”

The party survey in the “Nationwide Civil Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers” comprises four types of questionnaires: “Plaintiff with a lawyer,” “Defendant with a lawyer,” “Self-represented plaintiff,” and “Self-represented defendant.” The lawyer survey comprises two types of questionnaires: “Plaintiff’s lawyer” and “Defendant’s lawyer.”

Further, in the “Nationwide civil litigation General Public Survey,” two types of questionnaires are used: General A, which uses the simple term “Trial,” as does the party survey, and General B, which uses the term “Civil Trial.”

The “Internet Survey” uses twelve types of questionnaires.
Data Type quantitative research
quantitative research: micro data
Universe [Case Record Survey]
Civil litigations concluded in 2004 (excluding domestic-relations cases)
[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
Natural-person party to the cases sampled in the Case Record Survey or their lawyer
[General Public Survey]
Adult men and women across Japan
[Internet Survey]
Registered members of the survey website “Ann-Kate,” managed by Borders Co. Ltd.
Unit of Observation Individual
Sample Size [Case Record Survey]
1,132 cases
[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
Sample size: 3,315 people, valid responses: 857 people, response rate: 25.9%
[General Public Survey]
1,000 people
[Internet Survey]
1,200 people
Date of Collection 2004-01-01 ~ 2004-12-31
[Case Record Survey]
2004/01/01 – 12/31
[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
December 2006 to March 2007
[General Public Survey]
March 2007
[Internet Survey]
Late January to early February 2008
Time Period 2004 ~ 2004
Spatial Unit Japan
[Case Record Survey]
Japan
[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
Japan
[General Public Survey]
Japan
Sampling Procedure Probability: Simple random
Non-probability: Quota
[Case Record Survey]
Random sampling
[General Public Survey]
Allocation method
[Internet Survey]
With a target of 100 responses for each of the 12 types of questionnaires, the number of responses was allocated by the gender and generation in proportion to the total population. From the registered monitors (approximately 68,000 people), the survey company randomly sampled a number of people according to the number of responses received above, separated by gender and generation. Then, it asked the respondents to answer the survey on a dedicated homepage and received the answers until the allocated number was reached.
Mode of Data Collection Self-administered questionnaire: Paper
Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)
[Case Record Survey]
A total of 1,132 case records were randomly sampled from cases concluded in 50 district court headquarters across the country between January 1 and December 31, 2004. These samples were inspected, and the necessary items were transcribed using specially-developed computer software.

[Survey with Parties and Their Lawyers]
A questionnaire survey was conducted with the natural-person parties and lawyers in the 1,132 cases inspected in the Case Record Survey (self-administered survey (placement method) for the parties and mail survey for the lawyers).

[General Public Survey]
A survey with a questionnaire with the same content as that of the questionnaire in the Survey with Parties was conducted (self-administered survey (placement method)).

[Internet Survey]
The Internet survey was conducted for the registered members of the survey website “Ann-Kate,” managed by Borders Co. Ltd.
Investigator [Case Record Survey]
Masayuki Murayama
[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
Masayuki Murayama, survey carried out by Central Research Services, Inc.
[General Public Survey]
Masayuki Murayama, survey carried out by Central Research Services, Inc.
[Internet Survey]
Masayuki Murayama, survey carried out by Borders, Inc. (Later renamed as Marketing Applications, Inc.)

DOI 10.34500/SSJDA.1041
Sponsors (Funds)
Related Publications (by the Investigator) Please refer to the abstract in Japanese.
Related Publications (based on Secondary Analysis) List of related publications (based on Secondary Analysis)
Documentation 【Case Record Survey】
 ≪ Questionnaire
【The Party Survey】
 ≪ Plaintiff with a lawyer Questionnaire ≫  ≪ Defendant with a lawyer Questionnaire ≫  ≪ Self-represented plaintiff Questionnaire ≫  ≪ Self-represented defendant Questionnaire
 ≪ Summary sheet
【The lawyer survey】
 ≪ Plaintiff’s lawyer Questionnaire ≫  ≪ Defendant’s lawyer Questionnaire
 ≪ Summary sheet
【General Public Survey】
 ≪ Questionnaire A ≫  ≪ Questionnaire B
 ≪ Summary sheet
【Internet Survey】
Questionnaire 1 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 2 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 3 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 4 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 5 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 6 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 7 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 8 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 9 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 10 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 11 ≫ ≪ Questionnaire 12
Summary sheet
Major Survey Items [Case Record Survey]
(1) Natural or legal persons
 - Number of plaintiffs and defendants
 - Number of juridical plaintiffs, defendants, etc.

(2) Litigation type/result/price
 - Case type/evidence
 - Result in the district court (settled, claim upheld, etc.)
 - Category of the value in dispute, etc.

(3) Lawyers’ situation
 - Number of plaintiff’s lawyers
 - Number of defendant’s lawyers, etc.

[Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers]
[Party Survey]
(1) Details of the use of courthouses
 - Experience with civil trials
 - Desire to use a civil trial again, etc.

(2) Details of the dispute/litigation behavior
 - Stages from the inception of the dispute until legal action
 - Expectations and concerns regarding the legal action
 - Relationship with the lawyer during the litigation process
 - Result of the trial and its evaluation
 - Respondent’s behavior during the trial process
 - Evaluation of the judge/courthouse personnel
 - Details of the co-plaintiff
 - Details of the opposing party, etc.

(3) Face items
 - Age, gender
 - Occupation, whether or not respondent has experience with law-related work
 - Highest level of educational attainment, whether respondent has studied law
 - Number of people in the household, household income, total assets
 - Travel time to the courthouse

[Lawyer Survey]
(1) Details of the case and client
 - Case type
 - The client
 - Prospects for the case when retained and the accomplishments of the first instance
 - Requests from the client in the first consultation
 - Negotiation before litigation
 - Client and lawyer while filing a counterclaim, etc.

(2) First instance
 - Number of lawyers
 - Opposing lawyer at first instance
 - Settlement negotiations at first instance
 - Settlement negotiations of the opposing lawyer
 - The judge’s tentative settlement
 - Factors considered in arriving at the settlement decision
 - Collection of evidence and claim substantiation at first instance, etc.

(3) First instance results
 - Evaluation of the decision
 - Evaluation of first instance results, etc.

(4) Evaluation of the judge of the first instance
 - Evaluation of the judge’s attitude and trial management, etc.

(5) Costs
 - Time-related cost
 - Monetary cost

(6) Evaluation of the litigation process
 - Considerations made in the litigation process, etc.

(7) Final result
 - The final result of the entire case

[General Public Survey]
- See the items of [Party Survey] in the “Nationwide Civil Litigation Parties and Their Lawyers” above

[Internet Survey]
(1) Story presentation-type questions related to legal disputes (dispute amount and litigation results are manipulated)
 - Wage dispute with a cousin
 - Got involved in a fight with a stranger and was beaten in a one-sided manner (an illegal act)
 - Domestic violence between a married couple and divorce request from the victim, etc.

(2) Respondents’ experience/attitudes
 - Experience with courthouses
 - Experience with legal disputes
 - Views on trials/laws
 - Aggressiveness toward others (aggressiveness scale)
 - Gender bias (gender role scale)

(3) Face items
 - Occupation
 - Relationship with the law at work
 - Highest level of educational attainment
 - Experience with legal education
 - Number of people in the household
 - Household assets, etc.

*For details of survey items, please refer to the questionnaires
Date of Release 2016/08/17
Topics in CESSDA Click here for details

Legislation and legal systems
Topics in SSJDA Law
Version 1 : 2016-08-17
Notes for Users [Case Record Survey] The data is private.