Optional in stage
Second term
Both terms
Not organised
This year
Next year
Alternating years
External
Prerequisites
Identical coursesMethods of Legal Research (B-KUL-C01F7A)
English
First term
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contract
Allo Patrick | N. Aims
a) Overview of course objectives
The course will deal with:
• the development of written assignments in the form of literature review papers
• an introduction to research strategies and methods of data collection (in that way functioning as an entry point to the detailed study of specific methods)
• individual legal research skills and a concise introduction to social science research methods
• learning to critically reflect on your own writings and assess the scientific quality of scholarly legal publications and the work of peers
The course is designed to provide students faculty guidance and peer support. Parallel to the course, you will have to foster an intensive co-operation with your ‘faculty mentors’ being specialists in a particular field of law (e.g. private law, criminal law, or law and economics). The course is not intended as a substitute for specialized training on particular legal topics, which you may expect from teachers in domain courses, mentors and/or other supervisors.
b) Course objectives in detail
We distinguish three major building blocks in the course: knowledge, skills and application.
Objective 1. Knowledge of
1. The latest debates in the discipline regarding research methodology
2. The components of a good scholarly publication
3. The components of a good research proposal and the elements of a legal research design (particularly the most common elements used by the FWO/NWO)
4. The function of the research question, the different types of research questions and the consequences for the choice of methods
5. The function of theory in a legal research
6. The various perspectives and sources that can be used to carry out legal research
7. The criteria that are used in the evaluation of research designs and research proposals
Objective 2. Skills
1. Basic ingredients of intellectual craftsmanship
2. Extrapolation: Reflection on your own research interests and research experiences for making new research driven choices
3. Finding a research topic for starting a new project
4. Searching the most important literature
5. Critical appraisal of literature
6. Writing a literature review
7. Assembling research questions, data needed to answer the question and methods to collect the necessary data
8. Ensuring the innovative character and/or original approach of your research project
9. Written and oral reporting and communication with respect to your own research
10. Interviewing experts
11. Giving and handling feedback (by course teachers, mentors/supervisors and peers)
12. Complying with deadlines and formal requirements
Objective 3. Application and synthesis
1. Application of knowledge and skills in the development of your own research plans
2. Synthesis in the literature review writing: bringing different sources together in a comprehensive and critical review of the literature.
Is included in these courses of study
- Master in de rechten (Leuven) (Afstudeerrichting onderzoeksmaster rechten) 120 ects.
Activities
6 ects. Methods of Legal Research (B-KUL-C01F7a)
Content
Start weekend research master: Introduction to the Research Master as well as to the different courses, including ‘Methods of Legal Research’. During the start weekend there will also be a session on 'How to do an interview', during which you will learn different interviewing techniques via role-playing.
Principles of Scholarly Research & Topic Exploration. This session will make you acquainted with the principles of science (what does it mean to become ‘research minded’?). Moreover, the concept and progress of ‘topic exploration’ is explained
Embedding & relevance. In this session we will focus on finding out who the “essential others” with regard to your topic(s) are, on placing your research topic in a(n) (inter)national debate. Moreover, we will look at how to critically engage with other core authors and how to explain why they are crucial for your research proposal. We will also look at learning to understand the difference between societal and scientific relevance. Finally, we will discover the difference between various role models in law and legal research (judge, legislator, legal scholar) and legal forums.
The fundamentals of a research proposal. This session will introduce you to the notion, purpose and importance of a research proposal/project. An overall view of the different elements of a research proposal will allow you to understand what you are expected to deliver at the end of the year (Final Research proposal). This will be done in the context of the format provided by the FWO and NWO. Finally, this session will give interesting hints and tips for writing a research proposal and it will also draw the attention to important pitfalls.
Feedback. You will get feedback on your draft Literature Review 1.
Research Questions and Originality. You will learn about the different types of research and the different types of questions a legal researcher can ask. You will also learn what the characteristics of good research questions are. This session aims to show you that legal research can be carried out from different angles. By choosing a different angle a legal research can tackle an established legal doctrine or solution from a new perspective. This way the research can be original and/or innovative.
Theory-building and Theoretical Relevance. You will learn why theory is important in a PhD dissertation in law and what theory-building in legal research entails. Furthermore, you are taught how to recognize theory in legal research, what sort of theories there can be found and how they relate to research questions.
Overview of legal research methods. This session aims to get you acquainted with different approaches and methods of legal research: doctrinal, empirical, comparative, law and economics.
Methods of Legal Research: Social Science Methods for Lawyers I. You are introduced to social science research in law. You will learn the basics of making some fundamental choices in an empirical research design. You are introduced to the elements of a research design in social science and will discuss the quality in qualitative research.
Methods of Legal Research: Social Science Methods for Lawyers II. You will learn how data collection and data analysis is carried out in the social sciences.
Methods of Legal Research: Conducting peer review. This session will teach you how to conduct peer review in a critical, balanced and friendly manner, and how to accept peer review and use it to improve your work.
Course material
The course material consists of a syllabus given at the beginning of the course, a reader with texts produced by the teachers and a number of literature sources, such as books and articles. These will be provided by the teachers.
Evaluation
Evaluation: Methods of Legal Research (B-KUL-C21F7a)
Explanation
• Literature Review 1 (40% of final grade ‘Methods of Legal Research’, 4.000 words). -> Autumn 2016
• Literature Review 2 (60% of final grade ‘Methods of Legal Research’, 4.000 words). This consists of a literature review on a topic chosen by you, not falling in the wide area of law explored in your first literature review. It needs to be a completely new and distinct topic. -> January 2017
There will be a reduction of the grade with 2 points per week of late submission.
If one exceeds the word limit, the following consequences will be imposed: anything beyond the word count will not be taken into account for the grading and for every 500 words over the limit the grade is reduced with 2 points. Word count includes the text, including footnotes, but excluding bibliography.
For each paper the points are composed in the following manner (10 pts per paper):
Introduction of Research that makes up the context of the Literature Review 1 pt.
• Presentation of Research Questions that lead literature review
• Showing the importance of the review and why the reader needs to read it
• Road map for reader of literature review
• Methods of review
Quality of the literature review itself 4 pts.
• Comprehensive
• Up to date
• Shows critical and analytical thinking about the literature, so not just being a summary of what is read
• Command of the literature
• Selectivity, discriminating between important and unimportant works
• Thematic structuring
• Alignment with research question
• Showing Strengths and Limitations of literature
Discussion/conclusion 3 pts.
• Summary
• Refers back to introduction
• Ties everything together
• Implications and applications for author’s own research
• Conclusions in view of the state of the art regarding your topic
• The research questions for your planned research proposal, departing from a clear research problem.
Presentation, quality of writing 2 pts.
• Broken up the text in paragraphs with appropriate subheadings
• No excessive use of jargon
• Not quoting excessively when presenting the literature
• Fully acknowledged the work of others so that you cannot be accused of plagiarism
TOTAL 10 pts.(for Tilburg students - multiplied by two for KULeuven students)