Research Design for Empirical Legal and Socio-Legal Studies (LAW-DS-RESDES-23)

LAW-DS-RESDES-23

Description

WORK REQUIRED FOR CREDITS:
In addition to attendance, the product of the seminar will be a research proposal for an empirical legal or socio-legal study, either a master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation or other course project or some future study. The final research design paper is due on the official paper submission date for the period, or other date as agreed with the Professor. The length of the research proposal will depend on what type of project you propose but generally proposals are around 8-10 pages in length. Finally, there are two ungraded writing assignments during the period. 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND AIMS OF THE SEMINAR:
Empirical legal studies have become popular across the legal academy. Often legal empiricists limit themselves to analyses of quantitative data and rely on data collected by others. However, the term "empirical" properly encompasses qualitative as well as quantitative data, including information derived from interviews, legal documents, survey research and experiments. Moreover, many quantitative datasets were derived from qualitative data collection. Analysts interested in using such data should understand how they were collected, in order to decide what data are best suited to answering different kinds of questions. The best way to develop an understanding of the challenges posed by empirical research design is to develop such a design oneself.

This seminar will introduce students to the wide range of research methods that can be used to answer empirical questions, provide a framework for selecting from a methodological menu, and describe how to apply the most frequently used methods. The course is designed for students who expect to conduct an empirical study sometime soon. It can also provide useful background for those who may never conduct their own empirical study but will have reason to refer to such studies in their scholarship or policy work.

The seminar will comprise discussions of research principles, approaches, and methods and presentations of projects utilizing different approaches. In the last sessions of the quarter, everyone will present his or her preliminary research design for review and comment.

In addition to this seminar, the course Methods Course for Legal Scholars offered jointly with Geneva’s Graduate Institute and the University of Copenhagen will comprise sessions focusing on the implementation of specific methods. You will be free to participate only in those sessions that seem relevant to your planned research or in those sessions plus others.

First, Second & Third Term: registration from 25 to 28 September