Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Thirty arbitrators on the panel of the Buffalo Office of the New York State Mediation Board (SMB) and 36 labor and management representatives (who had used the services of the SMB in private sector cases during a two-year period) responded to a questionnaire in this study.' The questionnaire sought to elicit information about the standards applied by advocates in their selection of arbitrators.

Such factors as the parties' familiarity with the work of an arbitrator and the arbitrator's sex, age, and educational level were weighed. Both advocates and arbitrators agreed that name recognition was the most significant factor in arbitrator selection, although there was disagreement about the most effective way to achieve that recognition. The two groups differed about the relative importance of formal education, with the users of arbitration services ranking it high and the arbitrators viewing it as less significant. Arbitrators, on the other hand, placed greater emphasis on "real world" experience.