Legal research and writing 1

Aim of legal research

To identify the sources of law applicable for understanding a law problem and to find a solution to the problem that has been identified

Legal research for practicioners

provide the best and most accurate advice to the client

Legal research for scholars

to help develop policy, influence decision-makers or improve the law in practice

Legal research for both practicioners and scholars

To better understand how law affects people and organizations

Types of legal research questions

• descriptive

• normative

• critical

descriptive questions

tells us something about the legal world as is

• what is the law?

normative questions

ask waht OUGHT to be the state of things in relation to law

• what law ought to be?

critical questions

questions seek to expose the relations between law and power

• who the law serves?

types of legal research

• doctrinal

• empirical

• comparative

• etnographic

• quantitative

• qualitative

doctrinal legal research

• in order to make recommendations of reform

• reading the legal sources

• citing sources

comparative legal research

• information on law elsewhere and understanding one’s own system better

• comparing different systems

empirical legal research

• study on the ground

• interviews

• qualitative and quantitative fall under empirical

etnographic legal research

• observations and interviews

• data is used to draw conclusions on how society and individuals work

qualitative legal research

• or non-numerical

Extratcing information from the text of court documents, then interpreting and organizing the text into categories and using that info to identify patterns

quantitative legal research

• or numerical

Taking information about cases and courts, translating that into numbers and then analyzing those numbers with statistical tools

peer-reviewed

• academic term for quality control

• each article in a peer-reviewed journal was closely examined by a panel of reviewers who are experts on the article’s topic

primary sources

• peer-reviewed articles/ textbooks/ books/ encyclopedias

• treaties

• travaux preparatoires

• case law

• UN documents

Treaties

contracts between countries

Travaux preparatiores

Official record and documentary lead to the creation of a final treaty of international agreement

case law

Law which is established following a desicion made by a judge or judges

UN documents

offcicial texts submitted or issued by UN organs

Secondary sources

• books

• journal articles

• websites

• scholarly blogs

• podcasts

• youtube

• tiktok

• journal articles

• reports of non-governmental organizations

• etera

Why are secondary sources not strong sources?

• the info is not checked

• you have to assess whether the source is reliable and find a reliable source to back it up

citation standard

oscola

(most websites have button to get your citation directly)

descriptive writing

• states facts or recounts events, gives an overview of a particular topic

• observes and reports the characteristics of a person, place, thing or phenomenon

• gives details

• informative

What is the purpose of descriptive writing?

To provide context or background information

• Informative: provides factual detail

• Expository: explains something

• Examples: newspapers, reviews, summaries, synopses, popular journalism

descriptive writing questions

• who?

• what?

• where?

descriptive writing examples

• newspapers

• reviews

• summaries

• synopses

• popular journalism

analytical writing

• enagages with and applies theoretical concepts

• evaluates streanghts and weaknesses of ideas

• evaluates the significance of facts

• use your own critical thinking

• Synthesizes and engages with sources to support and create an overall argument

analytical writing questions

• why?

• how?

• so what?

What is the purpose of analytical writing?

To uncover the deeper meaning of specific ideas or evidence

To critically illustrate the connections between diverse ideas or evidence

• Evaluative: assesses the strengths and weaknesses of a particular issue or approach

analytical writing examples

• Academic papers,

• scholarly articles

• monographs,

• literature reviews

adding analysis to your writing

• How does this point relate back to my central argument?

• What is the connection between these different ideas?

• What does this theory or methodology reveal about this particular topic?

• What is the relevance of this evidence or this point? How can I link it to my main

argument?

• Evaluate the evidence - do not merely state it

• Unpack the meaning of terms, ideas, and definitions

• Synthesize secondary material into your overall argument

• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of other arguments, studies, or methodologies

• Engage with theory and apply it to your argument

research questions should be

• Clear and focused. The question should clearly state what the writer needs to do.

• Not too broad and not too narrow. The question should have an appropriate scope. If the question

is too broad it will not be possible to answer it thoroughly within the word limit. If it is too narrow

you will not have enough to write about and you will struggle to develop a strong argument

• Not too easy to answer. The question should require more than a simple yes or no answer.

• Not too difficult to answer. You must be able to answer the question thoroughly within the given

timeframe and word limit.

• Researchable. You must have access to a suitable amount of quality research materials, such as

academic books and peer journal articles, as well as primary sources, case law etc.

• Analytical rather than descriptive. Your research question should allow you to produce an analysis

of an issue or problem rather than a simple description of it (more on this below).

research question checklist

• Is my Research Question something that I am curious about and that others might

care about?

• Does my Research Question put a new spin on an old issue, or does it try to solve a

problem?

• Is my Research Question too broad, too narrow, or just fine?

• Is my Research Question researchable… or …doable within the time frame of the

assignment? or …feasible given the resources available at my location?

• What type of information do I need?

• Can I find (legal or academic) authorities to support or contradict a position? What

sources will have the type of information that I need to answer my Research

Question?

objectives of research desing

• Starting with a set of sufficiently developed research questions (following

preliminary research), search terms

• Focus on the scope of the project

• Focus on how to arrive at the required degree of practicality and

delineation

• Crucial to develop a goal-oriented mode of action

research objectives

• What is the goal of the research

• It concerns the contribution the researcher wishes to make to solve a

problem outside the research itself

• What is the use of knowledge?

demarcation

The research designer needs to isolate

an area of the project context that is manageable for the purposes of a research project.

research questions

• These questions have to be selected and formulated in such a way that the answers

  will yield information that is useful or necessary for accomplishing the research

  objective

• Formulating a set of research questions, which consists of at least one central

  question. Each central question may or may not be unravelled in sub-questions.

• 
  

key to formulating a research question

“FINERMAPS” is the key to a good research question: feasible,

interesting, novel/original, ethical, relevant, manageable, appropriate,

potential value, publishability, and systematic.

requirements that must be met in a research question

1. Efficiency refers to both the degree of knowledge

   that yields the answers to the questions contained in the set of research questions, and

   the degree this knowledge actually contributes to achieving the research objective. Efficiency refers back to the research objective,

2. The steering function refers to the extent to which the set of research questions throws

   light on the activities which need to be performed during the carrying out of the

   research. whereas the steering

   function refers forward to the research activities, which are still to be conducted.

research question guide

• Identify the subject of interest and then do preliminary research on that

subject;

• Define what still needs to be known in that particular subject and

assesses the implied questions;

• After narrowing the focus and scope of the research subject, formulate

a draft research question and then evaluate it.

• Conception to formulation of research question is a systematic process

and has to be performed meticulously.

sub-questions

Sub-questions are more steering than the central question(s) from which they are extracted, provided

that they logically follow from the central question(s).

Another function of formulating sub-questions is that they serve as a useful tool to structure the

research activities themselves.

In each phase, the researcher is trying to answer one of the sub-questions.

However, formulating sub-questions should not change the content of the research project.

The formulation of a set of research questions, consisting of central questions and the subsequent

sub-questions, must meet two strict requirements:

The combined answers to the central questions are sufficient to help to achieve the research objective,

The combined answers to the sub-questions provide a satisfactory answer to the central question from

which they have been derived.

theoretical framework

Consists of a ready-made theory that the researcher has found while studying the relevant literature

Without a clearly delineated theoretical framework, we might miss certain keywords and search terms

in both online and in-person research (e.g. in the library, archives etc.)

But more often than not, the researcher will have to derive a theoretical framework from different

theories that need to be adjusted in order to fit the research project

Can involve integrating different disciplines (interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary)

Multidisciplinary: people from different disciplines working together, each drawing on their

disciplinary knowledge. Interdisciplinary: integrating knowledge and methods from different

disciplines, using a real synthesis of approaches.

Theoretical framework

In law: legal theories

It is like a pair of glasses that will be used to observe the research object.

Choosing a research perspective/theoretical framework should contribute towards the insights relating

to the research objective.

A well-known type of research perspective consists of a set of core concepts, each connected to one

another in causal relationships.

The research perspective has to be confronted with the research object (need for synergy and

compatibility)

Sources for deriving theoretical framework: academic journals, books by esteemed scholars, scholarly

commentary, recent developments including academic conferences, workshops, webinars

Research Planning

This refers both to processing the research project and writing the

research report.

Draw up a time schedule with deadlines for various ‘products’

It is also important to specify beforehand what activities should lead to

these ‘products‘’.

In order to analyse the data and report the results, it is highly valuable to

have a mental image of the final report in the form of a table of contents

Plan backwards (from the deadline, ‘product’ by ‘product’)

Keep a log of search terms and organize your folders accordingly

Keep a critical eye on the tabs that you keep open (should all of them be

useful, or maybe something else would be more useful)

Research Strategies

Survey

Experiment

Case study

Desk research

Desk Research

Legal doctrinal research

Legal theories

Studying case law, literature

Secondary sources

The use of existing material, in combination with reflection

The absence of direct contact with the research object

The material is used from a different perspective than at the time of its production.

Survey

Existing literature does not provide accurate and complete picture of some phenomenon.

It is more logical to gather data from the real world.

Empirical approach

Can be combined with interviews

Sampling method: random sample, snowball method etc.

Extensive data generation

More breadth than depth

An assertion which consists of variables and the relationships between these variables

Quantitative data and quantitative data-analysis

Survey

Advantages: can be conducted using special software

Disadvantages: Compared to other research strategies, survey research has major limitations regarding

depth and knowledge (depth is limited and the knowledge obtained only concerns certain aspects of the

research object i.e. the variables). In qualitative methods of research the emphasis is on gaining a

complete overview of the research object. The lack of depth is the most important price to pay in order

to gain a complete overview of a wide and/or dispersed area, and knowledge that can be generalised.

Another possible disadvantage of survey research is that, relatively speaking, the researcher may need

to know a lot about the subject in question before hand. As the researcher needs to generate the data

quickly, because of the large number of research units used, he or she also needs to build a

well-thought out measurement instrument: i.e. questionnaire. Usually compiling an efficient

questionnaire requires a great deal of prior knowledge. Due to the high degree of pre-structuring, the

research project is less flexible. It may be difficult to anticipate exceptional circumstances, and once the

questionnaire has been set up and the sample drawn, little can be changed. This could prove to be an

impediment, particularly when carrying out a research project that is supposed to contribute to solving

a problem. This type of research is often carried out in a rapidly changing environment, involving

unexpected findings’

Experiment

Would involve observation and involvement of control groups

Requires more specialized knowledge about scientific methods

Requires more organization and funding (resources and time)

At least two groups are formed: an experimental group and a control group.

Participants, or research units, are assigned randomly to either group.

The researcher determines which group is subjected to the intervention X and what happens further

within the groups.

The researcher makes sure that there are as little outside influences as possible

E.g. Mapping exercises (results could then be studied by doing desk research and from a time

perspective => this might lead to revolutionary results)

Case study

In this case you would not prefer breadth, as was the case in the survey, but you would favour depth

instead.

Clearly selecting two or three situations and studying them closely

Extrapolating results is an option

A small domain, consisting of a small number of research units

Intensive data generation

Selective, i.e. a strategic sample

Qualitative data and research methods