legal research and methods

7/24/2019 Legal Research and Methods

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Legal Research and Methods

Objectives

Legal Research is an essential lawyering skill and researching law is an important

component of the process of law reform. The ability to conduct legal research is essentialfor lawyers regardless of area or type of practice. It is also a creative and strategic

thinking process and it often demands that researchers think outside any set of

prescriptive 'rules'. It is a process that simultaneously demands imagination, creativity,discipline and structure and needs to be navigated strategically from start to finish.

Units

Introduction

1) Legal Research - Nature and Scope (!)1.1 eaning of Research, Types of Research

1.! Research ethodology1." Research ethodology of Legal #tudies

1.$ Legal Research, #ocio% Legal Research &alues

1. (haracteristics of Legal Research1.) #ocio%Legal Research

1.* otivating factors of Legal Research

1.+ asic -ssumptions of Legal Research

1. /b0ects of Legal Research1.1 /b0ectives of Legal Research

1.11 /b0ectivity of Legal Research1.1! 2acts and 3ata of Legal Research1.1" #trategy of the Legal Research

1.1$ 4tility of Legal Research

1.1 Types of Legal Researcha. 3octrinal or Traditional Legal Research

b. 5mpirical or 6on%3octrinal Legal Research

1.1) 7orking with Literature

1.1).1 The Importance of 7orking with Literature 1.1).! 2inding Literature

1.1)." anaging the Literature

1.1).$ 4sing the Literature1.1). The f ormal Literature Review

") #or$ulation o% Research &roble$ (')

!.1 7hat is a Research 8roblem9

!.! :ow to 8roceed9

!." 6ecessary (onditions for 2ormulation of Research 8roblem

!.$ #ources of Research 8roblem



!. (riteria of a ;ood Research 8roblem

!.) 2ormulating and #tating the problem

!.* (ommon 5rrors

) *pothesis ()

".1 3efinition".! #ources of :ypothesis

"." Types of :ypothesis a detailed study of the sub0ect of Legal Research and

ethods is imperative for any law student. ".$ 6ull :ypothesis

". (haracteristics or (onditions of a valid :ypothesis

".) Importance of :ypothesis in #cientific Research

".* Limitations of :ypothesis".+ :ypothesis Testing

+) Legal Research ,esign (')

$.1 eaning of Research 3esign$.! The Ideali<ed or ;ood Research 3esign

$." 8ractical research design$.$ -spects to be considered in Research 3esign

$. (ontents of a Research 3esign

$.) (omponents or #teps of a Research 3esign$.* (haracteristics of a ;ood Research 3esign

$.+ #ignificance of Research 3esign

$. Types of Research 3esign

=-> 5?ploratory or 2ormulative 3esign=> 3escriptive or #urvey 3esign

=(> 3iagnostic 3esign

=3> 5?perimental or 5?planatory 3esign

') Sa$pling ,esign %or Legal Research (')

.1 (ensus and #ampling ethods.! -ssumptions 4nderlying in #ampling

." erits or -dvantages of #ampling

.$ 3emerits or Limits of #ampling ethod

. The (riteria to be kept in ind in (onstructing a #ampling 3esign.) (haracteristics of a ;ood #ampling 4nit

.* 8rocedure to select a sample

.+ #i<e of the #ample. iased #ample

.1 Types of #ampling

=a> 8robability #ampling=i> Random #ampling, =ii> #ystematic #ampling, =iii> #tratified Random

#ampling =iv> (luster #ampling or #ub%sampling, =v> ulti%stage

#ampling

=b> 6on%probability #ampling



=i> Representative sampling, =ii> @udgment #ampling, =iii> -ccident

#ampling =iv> 8urposive #ampling, =v> (onvenience #ampling,

=vi> #elf selected #ampling

!) echni.ues o% Legal Studies (!)

).1 /bservation ethod).! Interview ethod =#chedule ethod>

)." ailed Auestionnaire ethod

).$ #urvey method). (ase #tudy ethod

/) &rocessing the Legal Research ,ata (')

0) &reparing Legal Research Report ()

) 23ploring 2thics in Research (")

.1 5thical Responsibilities.! 2acilitating (hange through Research

." 2rom Bnowledge to -ction.$ 8aving the 7ay for (hange

. (reating Bnowledge and -ctioning (hange

.) #triving for (ritical 5mancipation

1) Role o% I in the #ields o% Legal 2ducation and Research 4 5ases6

Statutes6 7rticles6 5o$$entaries (')

utorials (')

otal (')

Suggested Readings4

/'Leary, Cina, The Essential Guide to Doing Research =!$>, &istaar 8ublications, 3elhi

3r. yneni, #.R., Legal Research Methodology, -llahabad Law -gency, =!$> :aryana

&erma, #.B, 7ani, -f<al ., Legal Research and Methodology, =!1> Indian Law

InstituteDoung &. 8auline, Scientific Social Surveys and Research, =!"> 8rentice%:all, 6ew

3elhi

;oode E :att, Methods in Social Research, c;raw%:ill ook (ompany@acobstein yron, @. ersky ., Roy 3unn @., 3onald , Fundamentals of Legal Research,

=1$>, The 2oundation 8ress, 5dition )

8utman 7illiam, Legal Research, Analysis and Writing, =!$>, Thomson3nuckman 3aniel, Doing Research, #age =!>



Note4 #tudents are e?pected to read latest 0ournals, periodicals, reports and articles to

keep abreast with the recent trends and developments in this area of Law.

legal research and methods

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