Expert Witnesses and Scientific Evidence
Admissibility Standards
Rule 702 requires that testimony be based on sufficient facts or data, be the product of reliable principles and methods, and reflect a reliable application of those principles to the facts.
Daubert factors include testability, peer review, error rate, standards, and general acceptance.
Alternative Names:
Methodological Reliability, Reliable Principles and Methods
Why it Matters?
The Daubert factors are non-exclusive and fit poorly outside laboratory science, which is why courts assessing engineering, accident reconstruction, and medical causation testimony frequently examine whether the expert applied the same rigor they would outside litigation. That framing from Kumho Tire is often more productive than working through factors designed for a different context.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Are the Daubert factors mandatory?
What framing works outside laboratory science?
