This article presents findings from the first longitudinal study to ask civil litigants prospectively what criteria they plan to consider when selecting legal procedures and then retroactively assess the criteria used to make those decisions. The most commonly referenced ex ante criteria are lawyer's advice, cost, and time. The retrospective reasons also include these factors, but the list is narrower and more practical. Litigants who initially listed a desire to reduce costs or follow their lawyers' advice were later significantly more likely to report using procedures for these reasons, suggesting the stability of these criteria. However, the same stability did not manifest for other criteria. Implications for improving protocols for counseling litigants about procedure are discussed.

中文翻译：

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委托人的内心：当事人选择程序的决策标准分析

本文介绍了第一次纵向研究的结果，前瞻性地询问民事诉讼当事人在选择法律程序时计划考虑哪些标准，然后追溯评估用于做出这些决定的标准。最常参考的事前标准是律师的建议、成本和时间。追溯原因也包括这些因素，但清单更窄，更实用。最初列出希望降低成本或遵循其律师建议的诉讼人后来更有可能报告出于这些原因使用程序，表明这些标准的稳定性。但是，其他标准没有表现出相同的稳定性。讨论了改进向诉讼当事人咨询程序的协议的意义。