Expert Spotlight

Angela Rockwell has served in consulting and expert roles across a diverse set of consumer protection matters, including cases involving alleged consumer deception, unfair business practices, and privacy-related issues. In several of these cases, she has designed and analyzed surveys to evaluate what consumers understood when purchasing at-issue products. Here, Dr. Rockwell discusses how survey evidence can inform key issues in these cases.

Q. You have noted that survey evidence is becoming increasingly important. Why is that?

A. Many consumer protection matters turn on a fundamental question: what did consumers understand? As more states pursue cases that might previously have been brought at the federal level, that question is coming up more often. Survey evidence can be especially useful because it provides a structured, scientific way to assess how a representative group of consumers perceived a disclosure, offer, or transaction.

Q. How does a survey help answer that question?

A. The goal is to understand the consumer experience as closely as possible. A well-designed survey aims to recreate the real-world context in which consumers encountered the relevant disclosure, enrollment flow, or product materials. For example, survey respondents may be shown the same product packaging or enrollment screens that actual consumers saw and then asked carefully constructed questions about what they noticed, what they understood, and whether they came away with a misleading impression.

In some cases, consumer understanding is central to liability. Survey evidence can also help inform questions related to consumer impact and, in some circumstances, damages or penalties. Compared with anecdotal evidence or a limited set of consumer complaints, a properly designed survey can provide more systematic evidence about how consumers interpreted the challenged conduct across the relevant population.

Q. How do you determine the right sample size?

A. I use established statistical methods to determine how many respondents are needed to produce reliable results. The sample size depends on the questions being asked, the population of interest, and the level of precision required.

Q. Can you describe any matters in which you’ve used consumer surveys?

A. In one case, I worked on behalf of a state attorney general alleging that a company used false, misleading, and deceptive business practices to sell its product. One key issue was whether consumers understood how their data would be collected and shared with third parties. I designed and administered a survey to assess consumers’ understanding of the company’s disclosures.

In another case, I worked on behalf of a financial services company facing allegations that consumers were misled into enrolling in a subscription through negative-option marketing and that the cancellation process was overly complicated. In that setting, survey evidence can help assess whether consumers understood what they were signing up for and how they perceived the cancellation process.

In other matters, I analyzed pre-existing survey evidence produced through discovery to support the work of other experts, including in the Federal Trade Commission’s suit involving Amazon Prime subscription practices and the social media addiction lawsuits.

Q. For some of these cases, you’ve partnered with other experts. How does that work?

A. Pairing a survey expert with an economist can be very effective. In the first two cases I described above, I served as the survey expert and worked alongside Bates White economists who analyzed related economic evidence of consumer behavior. This in-house collaboration creates efficiencies and helps ensure that the survey evidence and economic analysis fit together coherently.

Q. What do you like best about this work?

A. I’m excited about survey work because it draws directly on my background in cognitive psychology and statistics. Surveys must be carefully designed to reflect how people process information and to avoid introducing bias. My background in cognitive psychology, combined with my practical experience in statistics, sampling, and data analysis, allows me to design and analyze surveys that uncover what consumers actually experienced and understood.