When you develop your research question, you should be attentive as to which questions you can plausibly answer when you employ hermeneutical instruments, but also which questions cannot reasonably be addressed. Similarly, when the legal system is “ordered”, such “ordering” or “systematization” activity must necessarily be informed by certain values or principles. We have said that a central theme in legal scholarship concerns the dividing line between law and politics, i.e., between what is legally required and what is enabled. In particular, we argued that legal scholars are usually engaged in the following activities: We have also argued that these two types of hermeneutical research are usually not held apart in legal discourse, but that it is useful to distinguish between the two for a better understanding of what doctrinal scholarship does, and in particular to understand how legal measures can be contested (we will further discuss this second point a little later). some share a specific analytical focus (e.g. When lawyers “systematize” or “order” the legal system (e.g. Possible methods include: However, we argued that much mainstream legal scholarship (or “doctrinal scholarship”) is concerned with hermeneutical studies, i.e., the interpretation of communications. if they show different symptoms, and whether doctors are sufficiently aware of this. While the Court approaches this task on the basis of a seemingly common-sensical understanding of trade and mobility, it can be shown that this understanding is in fact shaped by a specific economic approach, namely neoclassical economics. How is a specific issue regulated in different countries? Theses written at law faculties often employ a doctrinal approach, which we defined as the use of hermeneutical instruments in the form of the “legal method” and “discourse analysis”. The thesis researches whether the European Treaties really limit the ECB’s mandate to price stability, or whether they would also enable the ECB to pursue other policy objectives, such as economic growth and full employment. It also intends to make them familiar with nature, scope, and significance of legal research. By Lynne Taylor, from Legal Writing: A Complete Guide for a Career in Law (LexisNexis, 2014). “legal gender studies” frequently draws from non-legal research on sexuality and gender; “law and economics” employs economic ideas, “behavioral law and economics” draws from psychology), some share a specific social theory of the law (e.g. This is an example for a research question that mainly focuses on systematization (I just made this one up): Under certain conditions, Union citizens have a right to receive social assistance from the Member State where they reside under the free movement provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). B. Engaging in research is a necessary precursor to writing a research paper. The core assumption is that gender is a relevant category of analysis. “legal gender studies” assumes that gender is an important analytical category). Beyond that, they may posit different values for the interpretation of law: e.g., “behavioral law and economics” conceptualizes individuals in a more realistic way than mainstream “law and economics”, i.e., often driven by “irrational” considerations. Finally, we saw that legal scholars often employ what we termed specific “. some share a specific technique (e.g. Finally you reject the these arguments, and make alternative arguments why a different evaluation would be justified ( → policy argument). By contrast, insights from alternative economic approaches, such as Keynesianism or Institutionalism, are usually ignored. How high can certain fines be? reaching further, it can be asked whether these distinctions are informed by certain ideological views, and whether these legally imposed distinctions in turn enforce gender roles in practice. Methodology Research Paper Pdf College Students Essay. The judge may therefore be more inclined to invalidate the contract because of the unfair terms and conditions. They claim that they are legally required to act in a certain way, but you can show that under the law they would have other options, which means that they are really making a discretionary or “political” choice for employing a specific interpretation. The following topics usually will be included. In your thesis, you may choose to analyze a new judgment or norm within the broader context of the legal system. “comparative constitutional law” compares the different constitutional regimes in order to identify interesting research questions), some share a specific affinity with another academic discipline (e.g. A comparison between different legal systems could be a research question in its own right, or it could be a starting point to find an interesting research topic. hunger) influence the outcome (quantitative analysis of legal processes from a perspective of psychology), or how race or gender influence outcomes (quantitative analysis of legal processes from a perspective of sociology). However, the recent Gauweiler judgment provides support for the claim that the ECB’s mandate is in fact much broader. the educational system. A typical question drawing from the comparative approach could be one of the following: Such comparisons may in turn be an interesting basis for critical analysis: Gender studies is an interdisciplinary field, which stretches across political science, sociology, psychology, economics, biology and medicine. Medical researchers may be interested in whether diseases affect women and men differently, e.g. For example, Dutch authorities may decide that the deportation of individuals to a specific country of origin would not violate the non-refoulement requirement, because their lives or freedoms are allegedly not threatened there. Revised on July 31, 2020. Because mainstream legal scholarship (just like much of the teaching at law faculties) is usually “doctrinal” in the sense just defined, law students may not always be aware that their research, too, is guided by a specific method. For example, anthropologists and historians can study how gender roles are comparable or different in different societies and in different periods of time; psychologists or sociologists can study how dominant gender roles are established, reinforced or altered through e.g. 3. European law, trade law or migration law) often share a specific take on their subject. A. Rather, there are a number of very different views of how the economy works (Neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxist, green, etc. We have already proposed a stylized argumentative strategy above when we discussed the “generic” law article, and briefly recap it here. Second, you would try to establish whether the government’s interpretation of the Directive really is the only possible one. Maybe you will be able to show that an alternative interpretation is in fact possible. C.R. In your thesis or dissertation, you will have to discuss the methods you used to do your research. In practice, however, it frequently works the other way around: first, a method is picked, and only then is it asked which research questions can plausibly be tackled from that perspective. However, Union citizens also have significant additional rights under the EU Fundamental Rights Charter (FRC), which have been addressed neither by the CJEU nor in the literature. 10 Research Action Plan Examples Pdf Word Pages Examples. For example, they may share a specific style of analysis, tend to draw from insights from a specific non-legal discipline, or apply specific assumptions (or share a specific worldview). However, they share a specific trait that might be interesting for your research. How is an international agreement or a European measure implemented or applied in the different Member States? It therefore argues that the national implementation is mostly or fully determined by higher-ranking law, and that it has no relevant discretionary choice. This, in turn, could be the basis of criticizing the legislator for choosing a specific solution and not providing good-enough reasons for that. It can be seen in this schematic description of a generic article that it usually employs 1) the “legal method” to establish the validity of a measure, to criticize an incorrect application of the law, or to analyze a specific legal concept; 2) “discourse analysis” to identify the justifications provided by the institution for exercising their discretion they way it did; 3) policy arguments when these justifications are evaluated, and alternative proposals are made; 4) political commentary, when the political and factual background of a measure is discussed, or when the article speculates about future developments. A comparative research may also be the basis for a policy proposal to reform the national law (e.g., let’s adopt the Norwegian approach to ensure gender equality in corporate boardrooms). Legal research and research methodologies. Business Plan Apa Research Paper Methodology … But all students bring some strengths and some weak-nesses to LRW. INTRODUCTION. In this backdrop, the present course on Legal Research Methods intends to acquaint the students of law with scientific methods of inquiry into law. Qualitative studies(e.g. A 25th Amendment Explainer. the same Directive could support the argument that the national legislator in fact has different options to interpret and apply the higher-ranking law. Being clear about the method you employ helps you to stay aware of the method’s blind spots as well. (→ policy argument. Beyond hermeneutical analysis proper, doctrinal scholarship frequently also engages in the following activities: A typical article in a law journal will often encompass all four types of activities in some form, as the following example shows. first, the application of “economic” analytical methods to answer “economic” research questions; second, the (“normative”) claim that law should be interpreted on the basis of a specific view or a specific set of values, namely “economic” ones. In practice, legal gender studies is well integrated into the interdisciplinary gender studies discourse, with jurists frequently incorporating non-jurist scholarship and vice versa. Legal gender studies, in conjunction with the success of the feminist movement in general, has given rise to specific bodies of law that deal with gender discrimination (such as anti-discrimination law); this further stabilizes legal gender studies as a distinct scholarly approach within legal scholarship. Bruce L. Berg, Qualitative Research Methods For The Social Sciences (London, Allyn and Bacon, 2001). Within doctrinal research, you can pursue different strategies of argumentation. By contrast, the second is about positing a specific value or viewpoint that is supposed to guide the interpretation of law. The hermeneutical instruments employed in doctrinal scholarship do not really help to explore all potential factors that shape a specific decision, and you should be aware of this in your writing. You will remember that law is always under-determined: this means that there are always multiple interpretations possible, and lawyers have to pick one among them (e.g., a judge picks one possible interpretation of a legal provision over others). Maybe the following comparison is helpful for you: you may remember that we compared the activity of legal scholars to re-arranging a room when a new piece of furniture is acquired: the new and the existing pieces of furniture are moved around until a satisfiable room arrangement is found, and all pieces work well together. Consequently, law can also be analyzed on the basis of “typically” economic research methods (these are essentially quantitative methods also employed e.g. The two elements of “law and economics” are, as such, unrelated: the first is about studying law and legal processes from a non-legal research perspective, applying e.g. However, such re-arranging or ordering activity requires an implicit assumption about what is a “good” way of organizing rooms (e.g., don’t put the wardrobe in the middle of the room or in front of windows or doors). “Law and economics” is also termed, by its proponents, the “economic analysis of the law”: this definition already points towards two different elements of this approach: The first element is easy to understand: we already discussed that law, as a societal phenomenon, can be analyzed from the perspective of various social sciences: for example, quantitative studies may show how specific psychological states (e.g. The recent CJEU judgment Dano has been interpreted by many as holding that Member States may severely limit that right. a disadvantageous regulatory regime for part-time workers may be indirectly discriminatory against women, if they constitute the majority of part-time workers, which in turn may be influenced by traditional gender roles). 2. These different aspects of doctrinal scholarship may often not be clearly distinguishable; rather, they often blend into each other. This “political” choice can then be challenged. How would such “value” become relevant in law? This exposes a seemingly common-sensical evaluation as based on unjustifiable biases. Apa Researcher Methodology Example Sample Section Chapter Question. For example, it could be argued that certain factual evaluation in civil courts (e.g. We assume that you pick a new judgment by the CJEU as the object of your research. Write after remainder of proposal is completed. Here we provide stylized examples, as well as possible research questions that are based on these different strategies. First, it could be argued that the implementation has negative practical effects in some form (→ policy argument). Mainstream “law and economics” scholars would argue that the law should be interpreted on the basis of what is necessary to make the markets run optimally. In a metaphorical sense it could be argued that this type of argumentation pushes the law/politics line: an alleged legal necessity is exposed as a political choice. Comparative law is a distinct approach in legal scholarship, and has developed specific sub-disciplines (e.g. whether there are differences in sentencing for the same offense based on region or on race, or whether “hangry” judges pass harsher judgments, how recidivism rates for certain offenses differ between countries, etc.) comparative private law, comparative constitutional law) and analytical techniques. Chapter I. Is it referred to in law-making or adjudication? The present thesis researches in how far the judgment Dano has limited the access to social assistance, and whether the FRC establishes certain minimum standards in that regard. “behavioral law and economics” — may focus in different non-legal research methods to study the law (e.g., psychological) and may propose different research questions (e.g. § Writing of Research Proposal § Dissertation/ Thesis Writing Suggested Readings* 1. in psychology or sociology) in order to answer “economic” research questions (e.g., does a specific tort law system have a distributive bias in favor of e.g. Possible methods include: 1. 2. Today we look at how the issues we discussed in the previous classes shape legal research in practice, and how you can make use of our insights for your thesis. Do use subheads throughout. Are there similarities or differences between the countries? scholars drawing from Foucault, or who employ a Marxist framework), Some share a specific worldview, or parts thereof (e.g. This is an example research question that employs such strategy (I also made it up just now): It is often argued that the European Treaties require the European Central Bank (ECB) to exclusively pursue the objective of low inflation. A judge informed by mainstream “law and economics” may assume that — because individuals are assumed to rationally optimize their utility on the market — the contract is still beneficial for the customer: if the contract would not increase her utility, she would not have concluded it. In order to challenge this evaluation, you would have to make a plausible argument that this evaluation is in fact incorrect. Kothari, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1985). For example, it could be researched at which points and how the law distinguishes between two or. (→ This is an application of “discourse analysis”), Fourth, you could reject the government’s arguments, and argue that better arguments can be made for another interpretation. The following concluding points can be made: 9 Micro-Habits That Will Completely Change Your Life in a Year, Science Might Have Identified the Optimal Human Diet, 6 Signs a Woman Wants to Be Approached by You, How To Make Enough Money to Retire in the Next 5 Years, How ‘Verbal Aikido’ Can Help You Avoid Stupid Arguments, 15 Ideas You Can Steal to Make the Next 12 Months a Period of Remarkable Growth, What If Trump Gets Really Sick? In addition to definitions in II.B., define other terms where first used. when they put a new court judgment into relation with the existing case law and with the legal system in general), they do so on the basis of a certain underlying understanding of what the legal system should be about — this is logical: you can order things only if you apply a certain underlying principle. Research Paperology Sample Writing Chapter Paper Methodology . Published on February 25, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Research Methods by Kurt Kent 3/27/2001 . This could be challenged as follows: This argumentative strategy challenges the dividing line between law and politics proposed by an institution. Mainstream “law and economics” scholars usually posit a specific economic view as the “correct” one that is supposed to guide the interpretation of law, which could be described as “neoliberal” (individuals are conceptualized as rational maximizers of their utility, markets are conceptualized as efficient insofar as they are better able than states to allow individuals to maximize their utility, etc.). Another version of this strategy would be to argue that a specific evaluation of non-legal facts appears to draw from common sense, but is in fact based on biased assumptions. Legal Methodology & Legal Research and Writing A Very Short Introduction Methodology is a scientific discipline which pertains to defining and systematizing methods, that is, appropriate ways of discerning the subject of investigation. By contrast, the second element of the “law and economics” approach involves, in philosophical terms, a “normative” claim, i.e., the claim that law should be interpreted on the basis of a specific viewpoint or certain principles. How to write a research methodology. Sometimes this develops into a distinct style of legal research, which we could describe as a specific “approach” in legal scholarship. In order to understand how different values shape the interpretation of law, imagine the following situation: a contract between a customer and a large company contains terms and conditions that are very unfair for the former. By contrast, a judge informed by “behavioral law and economics” does not assume that consumers always act in a way that is increasing their utility. Quantitative studies(e.g. We have also argued that these two activities are usually pursued under the premise that the legal system forms, or should form, a coherent whole. interviews with judge… Moreover, the legal method is also of limited help for a number of questions that you encounter in your research, such as the evaluation of non-legal facts. quantitative methods. Page or two. regarding guardianship) is based on biased views of gender roles, of certain illnesses or handicaps, or of old age. Based on what we discussed, we can sketch the following outline of a “typical” article in a law journal. In what follows, we discuss a few of these approaches. Consider the following example: the government holds that a European Directive can be implemented correctly only in one specific way. It is very important to note that review should not be simply a description of what others have published in the form of a set of summaries, but should take the form of a : 20 : critical discussion, showing insight and an awareness of differing arguments, theories and approaches. For example, as discussed, the analysis of the reasons provided by an institution to justify their discretionary choices may not necessarily explain why it made that specific choice (for example, a judge may have decided a certain way for reasons of convenience or based on political convictions, and constructed her reasoning accordingly). However, in reading legal scholarship and in writing your own thesis it is useful to be aware of these different activities. Consequently, the judge will be reluctant to invalidate the contract. PROPOSAL. consumers or producers?). The “law and economics” approach combines a variety of aspects or elements that are quite unrelated, at least at first sight. We already mentioned that the law, as a social phenomenon, can be researched with different methods stemming from the various social sciences, such as political science, sociology or psychology. mainstream “law and economics” is usually close to neoliberal policy views). ), First, you describe the relevant norm or case law, Then you identify the presence of a certain view in the case law, for example a certain idea about gender roles ( → “discourse analysis”), Then you show, possibly through the discussion of the relevant social science literature on the issue, that this in fact is a biased view, and that other views are possible ( → policy arguments), Then you show that this biased view is not actually required by the higher-ranking norm, but that it merely constitutes one among a number of possible interpretations (→ “legal method”), then you analyze the arguments (or, if they are absent, possible arguments) to defend the court’s biased view (→ “discourse analysis”). You thereby, Third, you identify the arguments the government forwarded to justify its interpretation (apart from the argument that it is legally required, which you already rejected). UNIT 10: WRITING A RESEARCH REPORT-----208 . In principle, the appropriate method follows from your research question: if you wish to study recidivism rates, you will choose a quantitative method, etc. ability in “Legal Research and Writing” (LRW) courses.2 English majors may assume LRW will be the easy course in the curricu-lum while engineers may fear writing papers for the first time in years. There are many different approaches: These different approaches usually stay within the broader scope of doctrinal scholarship. biases shape legal outcomes). Legal gender studies adopts this focus on gender as an analytical category, and allows for many interesting research questions: It is quite obvious that legal gender studies quickly touches on issues that require methods other than hermeneutics, such as employment statistics. Accordingly, legal methodology is a scientific discipline dealing with methods of discerning law and legal phenomena. Research Design And Methodology Dr W A Kritsonis. However, “law and economics” does not really distinguish between the two, which has ideologically problematic consequences: while it is certainly legitimate and interesting to research law on the basis of “economic” methods, this does not, as such, justify why a specific ideological view is picked as the “correct” economic view that is supposed to shape the interpretation of law.