Research Methodology*

Mian Ali Haider L.L.B., L.L.M (Cum Laude)

U.K. *(Contents of this PPT are not mine, infact, gathered from different electronic materials)

What is Research ?

• Legal research is an art as well as a skill. It calls for judgment and creativity along with mastery of a set of tools and techniques.

• Each research question will have a different starting point, process, and conclusion.

• Every research project will include false starts, dead ends, and revisions.

• There is never one “right” path. Researchers choosing different paths for the same research question may be equally successful.

• Legal research is never “finished,” but the experienced researcher recognizes when to stop.

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What is Research ?

• The starting point of research depends on the nature of the issue, how it is presented to the researcher, and the researcher’s experience.

• The starting point for research may be a fact pattern, a subject, an issue, a case, or a statute.

• At the outset, determine if your research will be exclusively in case law or if there are statutes or regulations that should be explored.

• Determine whether your research will be primarily in federal law or state law, or both.

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Objectives of Research

• To discover the answer to questions through the application of scientific procedures.

• To test the hypothesis

• To portray accurately the characteristics of particular law

• To gain familiarity with a particular phenomenon.

• To find the truth which is hidden and has not been discovered as yet.

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TARP Model

T Things, Subject Matter, Place

A Cause of Action, Grounds

R Relief

P Person or Parties involved & their relationship to each other

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It is not always necessary to think of words to fit each TARP category. However, an analysis of the facts with TARP will suggest alternative ways in which the problem can be researched.

USE YOUR IMAGINATION.

Types of Legal Research

• Doctrinal Legal Research

• Interdisciplinary Research

• Pure Research

• Applied Legal Research

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Doctrinal Research

• It is concerned with the formulation of legal ‘doctrines’ through the analysis of legal rules.

• Within the common law jurisdictions legal rules are to be found within statutes and cases (the sources of law)

• but it is important to appreciate that they cannot, in themselves, provide a complete statement of the law in any given situation.

• This can only be ascertained by applying the relevant legal rules to the particular facts of the situation under consideration.

• Doctrinal research is therefore concerned with the discovery and development of legal doctrines

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Interdisciplinary Research

• Research about law• An evaluation of the effectiveness of a particular

piece of legislation in achieving particular social goals or an examination of the extent to which it is being complied with.

• An uncertain or ambiguous legal ruling can often be more easily interpreted when viewed in its proper historical or social context, or when the interpreter has an adequate understanding of the industry or technology to which it relates

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Pure Research

• Pure academic knowledge about the operation of the law,

• Knowledge of the same kind which has been produced with a particular purpose in mind.

• The purpose of it will generally be to facilitate a future change, either in the law itself, or in the manner of its administration

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Applied Research

• It aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem

• Also called ‘law reform research’.

• The terms ‘law in context’ and, increasingly, ‘socio-legal research’ are more often used in the UK

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Types of Research Methodology

• The basic types of research are• Descriptive

• Analytical

• Applied

• Fundamental

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

• Conceptual

• Empirical

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WHEN to Write

• Write early, write often !Writing is thinking.

• Never get it right first time, two approaches– The bricklayer– The dumper

• Generally best to hybridise – Outline– Draft individual components– Polish

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The Habit of Writing

• Establish a process.

• Avoid binges; little and often- e.g. after reading a paper, but not immediately - Why?

• Analyse how you spend your time, not how you would wish to, ..it is very illuminating!

• Make a plan for each stage of writing up.

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Making it Readable II

• Coherence lends readability

• Sentences should be ordinal in character

• See the hook-and-eye technique of analysing sentences

• Use active voice as much as possible– watch the chronology …...was, has been, did

etc……..

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Making it Readable III

• Trim the fat in successive drafts

• If the eye pauses, the mind stumbles

• Get someone else to read your work, someone picky, knowledgeable and someone that you respect. Never argue with this person about their opinion on what you have written !

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How to do Research

• Doing research is hard work!• Hard to stay motivated in a vacuum• Contact with others (supervisor & other

students) important• Hardest parts are finding topic & writing up• Usual stumbling blocks - Design/Evaluation• A Plan - with fail-safes - is vital.

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Daily Grind

• Many operations involved– reading papers– writing reviews of papers & tracking papers– discussing ideas– having brilliant ideas and discovering which

ones are worth bothering with– living in a dreamlike state, - I know it really!– keeping a journal

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Strategic Grinding

• Be selective in what you read– find appropriate conferences– quiz your supervisor or academic staff member– scan before reading, read abstract and

conclusions first– if it still looks interesting, read and read again– summarise the ideas in journal/work notes– its normal to be overwhelmed

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Evaluating Papers

• Did the ideas described really work?

• Cut through the jargon, are there any interesting ideas underneath it all ?

• What motivated the authors ?

• What choices were open to the authors ?

• Validity of assumptions ?

• What was their result ?

• Any future directions ?

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Staying on Top

• A routine: daily, weekly helps to keep you focused, working and motivated.

• Avoid telling yourself you should have a review of topic, should have 3,000 papers read, should work 10 hours a day, etc.

• Divide and conquer.

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Doubts about the Topic

• Happens all the time! …others still interested? - it is probably worthwhile!

• Look at future work section of papers and other dissertations, Masters and PhDs.

• Rightsize your dissertation problem

• Interest flagging - separate the topic from the logistics.

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The Supervisor Role

• Supervision - i.e. guidance and suggestion, not marking, teaching, correction, auxiliary worker input /analysis.

• Realisation of research and quality- student. • Supervisor - decide work plan with student,

try to keep on-track and to time. Available to discuss ideas, problems and queries as these arise, but not to lay out a blueprint.

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What is a Postgraduate Dissertation ?

• Useful contribution to knowledge !

• Readers will ask– what is the question here ?– is it a good question ?– is it adequately answered ?– is there a contribution to previous knowledge?

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Justifying your Efforts

• Clearly state the question

• Originality proven by?– thorough review of topic and closely related

topics– reference review to demonstrate that

• question not previously answered

• it is worth answering

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Writing the Thesis I

• Does not usually happen in two phases, work/write; can be highly iterative

• You will have a range of tasks, keep a few for when you do not feel like tackling the awkward ones.

• Develop an outline EARLY, not tablets of stone

• TARGET audience and style correctly

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Writing the Thesis II

• Audience will be less knowledgeable on detail than you!

• Explain motivations, goals, methodology, make no assumptions apart from basics.

• Get feedback– supervisor, seminars, conference opportunities– friends and other researchers– give feedback too

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The Generic Dissertation Skeleton I

• Abstract– general introduction– summary of the question– justification for question– birdseye view of the result

• Background information– particularly if you span two or more traditional

areas (dissertations/theses often do)

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton II

• Literature review– state of the art– organised by ideas, not time/author/geography

• The research question (core/foundation)– concise statement of question– justification, refer closely to review (analysis)– explain why question is worthwhile

(applicability)

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton III

• Description -Design/methods/methodology– Possibly many sections to some chapters -

balance– Aim to show that question has been fully

answered– Show relevance of work to solution– Avoid detailing blind alleys unless they

contribute to showing that question is answered

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton IV

• Conclusions, generally in three sections– conclusions

• short concise statements of inferences made as a result of the work done

• conclusions must be directly related to the research question/problem raised previously

– summary of contribution• examiners will scrutinise this section

– future research• useful to people following in your tracks

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton V

• References– closely tied to the review done early in the

dissertation– examiners usually check out this section early

on and will form preliminary assessment notions early, so pay attention

– references must appear in the main body– use the guidelines published by OSCOLA

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton VI

• Appendices– material which casts light on the work done but

which would impede the clear delivery of ideas• mathematical proofs unless prime focus

• program listings

• huge tables of data

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How Long Does it Take ?

• How long is a piece of string ?

• Writing up is one of the MAJOR activities of doing research

• Organisation of ideas is the hard bit

• You will find weaknesses/flaws only when you start to write up, - state them!

• Allow approx. 30% of time for writing up

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Think of the Reader

• Make no unreasonable assumptions about your audience

• Examiners hate to be made to work hard on trivia - to understand poorly named sections, organise ideas themselves from your work and wade through bad grammar

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Lesson Learned!

• Research is an Original Contribution to Knowledge.

• You must show two things– Identification of an unanswered question– The Answer !

How to impress Mian Ali Haider To carry a reader you have to complete three steps:

– Pick up the reader and tell them where you’re going (Introduction).

– Take them to another place, one which they would not have discovered on their own (Middle).

– Put them down, explain how they got there, and describe what they can do next (Conclusions).

THIS IS A USEFUL AND IMPORTANT SKILL TO GET GOOD MARKS

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MY Goal

The training of lawyers is a training in logic

SO CONVINCE ME

with Logic & arguments to Mark you good