Is the death penalty a more effective deterrent than lengthy prison sentences? Does a judge's gender influence their decisions? Do independent judiciaries promote economic freedom? Answering such questions requires empirical evidence, and arguments based on empirical research have become an everyday part of legal practice, scholarship, and teaching. In litigation judges are confronted with empirical evidence in cases ranging from bankruptcy and taxation to criminal
law and environmental infringement. In academia researchers are increasingly turning to sophisticated empirical methods to assess and challenge fundamental assumptions about the
law.As empirical methods impact on traditional legal scholarship and practice, new forms of education are needed for today's lawyers. All lawyers asked to present or assess empirical arguments need to understand the fundamental principles of social science methodology that underpin sound empirical research. An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research introduces that methodology in a legal context, explaining how empirical analysis can inform legal arguments; how
lawyers can set about framing empirical questions, conducting empirical research, analysing data, and presenting or evaluating the results. The fundamentals of understanding quantitative and qualitative data,
statistical models, and the structure of empirical arguments are explained in a way accessible to lawyers with or without formal training in statistics.Written by two of the world's leading experts in empirical legal analysis, drawing on years of experience in training lawyers in empirical methods, An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research will be an invaluable primer for all students, academics, or practising lawyers coming to empirical research - whether they
are embarking themselves on an empirical research project, or engaging with empirical arguments in their field of study, research, or practice.
Is the death penalty a more effective deterrent than lengthy prison sentences? Does a judge's gender influence their decisions? Do independent judiciaries promote economic freedom? Answering such questions requires empirical evidence, and arguments based on empirical research have become an everyday part of legal practice, scholarship, and teaching. In litigation judges are confronted with empirical evidence in cases ranging from bankruptcy and taxation to criminal
law and environmental infringement. In academia researchers are increasingly turning to sophisticated empirical methods to assess and challenge fundamental assumptions about the
law.As empirical methods impact on traditional legal scholarship and practice, new forms of education are needed for today's lawyers. All lawyers asked to present or assess empirical arguments need to understand the fundamental principles of social science methodology that underpin sound empirical research. An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research introduces that methodology in a legal context, explaining how empirical analysis can inform legal arguments; how
lawyers can set about framing empirical questions, conducting empirical research, analysing data, and presenting or evaluating the results. The fundamentals of understanding quantitative and qualitative data,
statistical models, and the structure of empirical arguments are explained in a way accessible to lawyers with or without formal training in statistics.Written by two of the world's leading experts in empirical legal analysis, drawing on years of experience in training lawyers in empirical methods, An Introduction to Empirical Legal Research will be an invaluable primer for all students, academics, or practising lawyers coming to empirical research - whether they
are embarking themselves on an empirical research project, or engaging with empirical arguments in their field of study, research, or practice.
1: Some Preliminaries
Part I: Designing Research
2: Questions, Theories, Observable Implications
3: Measurement
Part II: Collecting and Coding Data
4: Collecting Data
5: Coding Data
Part III: Analyzing Data
6: Summarizing Data
7: Statistical Interference
8: Regression Analysis: The Basics
9: Multiple Regression Analysis and Related Methods
Part IV: Communicating Data and Results
10: General Principles for Communicating and Visualizing Data
11: Strategies for Presenting Data and Statistical Results
12: Concluding Remarks
Appendix A: Supplementary Materials
Lee Epstein is the Provost Professor of Law and Political Science
and the Rader Family Trustee Chair in Law at the University of
Southern California. She has previously held posts at Northwestern
University and Washington University, St Louis. Professor Epstein
has received twelve grants from the National Science Foundation for
her work on law and legal institutions, and has authored or
co-authored 15 books, including The Behavior of Federal Judges:
A
Theoretical and Empirical Study of Rational Choice (2013, with W.M.
Landes and R.A. Posner), the Constitutional Law for a Changing
America books (with T.G. Walker), and The Choices Judges Make, with
J. Knight,
which won the Pritchett Award for the Best Book on Law and Courts
and the 2010 Lasting Contribution Award "for a book or journal
article, 10 years or older, that has made a lasting impression on
the field of law and courts."
Andrew Martin is Professor of Law and Dean at the University of
Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He was
previously the Founding Director of the Center for Empirical
Research in the Law, and Professor of Political Science in Arts and
Sciences at Washington University, St Luis. Professor Martin has
received eight grants from the National Science Foundation, and is
the author of numerous articles in prominent law and social science
journals. Together with Professor Epstein he
teaches the Annual Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop,
offering formal training in the design, conduct, and assessment of
empirical studies and the use of statistical software to
analyze
and manage data.
Overall, this book is a worthy addition to any law library and
should be encouraged reading for legal scholars, jurists, and
government policymakers, as well as required for law students
working on their advanced legal writing projects or as research
assistants.
*Stacy F. Posillico, Reference Librarian, Gould Law Library, Touro
College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, Law Library Journal*
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