Empirical research in legal studies: design, application and methods 1

elective courses

15 h seminar

Teaching methods applied;

Reading assignments, in-class discussion, case studies.

Description of the substantive content;

In recent years, empirical and interdisciplinary legal scholarship has become increasingly popular. While more and more empirical studies mushroom, it is essential for legal scholars to be aware of the specifics and limitations of the tools available.

The course aims to support PhD students in learning empirical methods applicable to legal phenomena. As such, the course will be accessible to PhD students of law willing to use empirical methods in their research, and better understand hitherto empirical research as well as PhD students in other social sciences interested in researching legal phenomena.

The course organisation will reflect the typical decision-making process applied to designing empirical research in law. Core moments for decision-making will be identified, discussed and illustrated with case studies.

The following topics will be addressed:

1. Why study law empirically? Opportunities and limitations of empirical methods in law

2. Typical fields of application and typical data sources

3. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods of producing data. Options for data analysis.

4. Success stories

5. Practicalities of empirical research: funding and time.

6. Research ethics

Due to the limited number of class hours, the course will not provide training on using specific research methods or techniques of data analysis. Instead, it will provide useful cues for research practice and material for further learning.

List of the subject-related literature;

The course will use two types of literature, handbooks in the methodology of empirical legal research and research papers and monographs Handbooks are listed below:

1. Banakar, R. and M. Travers, eds. Theory and method in socio-legal research, Hart 2005.

2. McConville, M., ed. Research methods for law. Edinburgh University Press, 2010

3. Leeuw, F. L., and H. Schmeets. Empirical legal research: A guidance book for lawyers, legislators and regulators. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016.

4. Cane, P., and H. Kritzer, eds. The Oxford handbook of empirical legal research. OUP Oxford, 2010.

5. Epstein, L. and A. D. Martin. An introduction to empirical legal research. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Literature to be used for case study discussion will be provided in-class, depending on the research interests of seminar participants.

Learning outcomes;

Student can:

- take informed decision if the empirical approach is useful for his/her research in law

- conceptualise empirical research in law

- choose empirical research methods appropriate for his/her research problem in law

- recognise common methodological errors in empirical legal scholarship

- identify further literature allowing for in-depth acquaintance with specific research methods

- realistically assess his/her skills in conducting empirical research and identify the skillset needed for properly conducting particular research exercise.

- differentiate between ethical and unethical empirical research in law

Principles for passing the classes and the subject (including resit session);

Participants will be requested to identify and discuss possible uses of empirical methods in their research fields.

Methods for the verification of learning outcomes;

Self-evaluation based on the outcomes of seminar discussion of participants’ own ideas of empirical research.

Evaluation criteria

Quality of participation in seminar discussion - 100%