Recognizing that lawyers have great influence over the choice of mediator, the authors set out to determine what effect their conflict orientations have on their decision. They started with the premise that mediator behaviors fall on a continuum from almost completely elicitive to almost completely directive (these roughly coincide with facilitative and evaluative styles). They then decided to use the Thomas-Kilmann Mode Instrument (TKI) to determine the conflict orientations of the volunteer participants, who were 68 upper-class law students. The participants also completed a survey about their preferences in mediator behaviors and styles.

The study found that the most highly preferred styles were creative mediator behaviors, followed by elicitive behaviors. This runs contrary to the belief that lawyer preferences of mediators will tend to narrow the field to evaluative mediators using directive behaviors. More likely, lawyers will continue to look for a variety of behaviors and styles.