Research Methods Notes:

Meaning of Research:
The word research means to ‘search again’.
• Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. It can also be defined
a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact,
research is an art of scientific investigation
• The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of
research as “a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts
in any branch of knowledge”
• Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge”
• According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems,
formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating
data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the
conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis

Legal Research:
• In this context, legal research may be defined as ‘systematic’ finding of law on a
particular point and making advancement in the science of law. However, the finding
is not so easy. It involves a systematic search of legal materials, statutory, subsidiary
and judicial pronouncements
• For making advancement in the science of law, one needs to go into the ‘underlying
principles or reasons of the law. The enquiries will have to be: Why a particular rule?
What led to its adoption? What are its effects? Whether it is suited to the present
conditions? How can it be improved? Whether it needs to be replaced entirely by a
new rule?
• An approach becomes systematic when a researcher follows scientific method.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:
Every Research has certain subject centric objectives or goals
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a
group
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is
associated
4. To test causal relationship between two or more than two facts or situations
5. To ‘know’ and ‘understand’ a phenomenon with a view to formulating the problem
precisely.
6. To ‘describe’ accurately a given phenomenon and to test hypotheses about
relationships among its different dimensions. IT CAN BE TO… explore, describe,
determine frequency of any occurrence, or test established results
Example:

A good example of trend analysis research is studying the relationship between an increased
rate of charity and crime rate in a community. Will giving food, clothes, etc. to the people in
a community help decrease the rate at which people steal? This exploratory research may be
conducted through observations. A sample crime laden community will be given charity for
a certain period, while the crime rate during this period will be observed

SCOPE AND NATURE OF LEGAL RESEARCH:

Doctrinal Research- a research into legal rules, principles, concepts or doctrines. It involves a
rigorous systematic exposition, analysis and critical evaluation of legal rules, principles or
doctrines and their interrelationship.
Research in theory- It involves an inquiry into conceptual bases of legal rules, principles or
doctrines.
Empirical investigations- It assesses impact of law and reveals the gap between legal
idealism and social reality
Reform-oriented Research- It, is based on empirical study and critical examination of law,
recommends changes in law and legal institutions.
EXAMPLES:
• Doctrine of Laches and the Doctrine of superseding intervention – (how inter related)
• Looking at the Austin’s Theory of Law- Command of Sovereign backed by Sanction -
how fits in the system…does it or it does not???

WHO CONDUCTS LEGAL RESEARCH

Legislators: They enact ‘law’ deliberately to meet one of the prevalent ‘needs’ of the society.
Formulation of a legislative measure, generally, precedes a deliberate ‘finding’ of a ‘problem’
requiring legislative response. Then it follows by ‘finding’ of possible alternative courses of
action to be followed or measures to be taken
Judges: a Judge has to find the most relevant rules and principles of law from statutes and
statutory instruments argued by the contesting parties, and to apply them to the dispute at
hand. Such an exercise obviously requires him to make a ‘search’ for applicable ‘rule’ and
‘legal principle. A Judge, it is said, injects ‘life’ into ‘law’ through his logical deduction and
legal reasoning. A judge is merely a ‘passive’ legal researcher. + (rules for interpretation of
statutes)
Lawyers: A legal practitioner, who is called upon to give his legal opinion, is required to
undertake a systematic search for ‘finding’ law’ (as a part of his profession) and thereby to
form his ‘opinion’ based thereon. A lawyer, therefore, has to go into the legislative policy
and intent of law for ‘knowing’ the law accurately so that he can argue favorably for his
client.
Students of Law
Legal Academia

QUANTITAIVE AND QUALITATIVE RSEARCH:

Quantitative - as the name suggests, is concerned with trying to quantify things; it asks
questions such as ‘how long’, ‘how many’ or ‘the degree to which’. Quantitative methods
look to quantify data and generalize results from a sample of the population of interest
The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models,
theories and hypotheses pertaining to the phenomenon under inquiry
Qualitative research, is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e. phenomenon relating
to quality or kind. For example, when a researcher is interested in investigating the reasons
for, or motives behind, certain human behavior, say why people think or do certain things, or
opinions about, a particular subject or institution, say adultery or judiciary, his research
becomes qualitative research.
Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research relies on reason behind various aspects of
behavior.
EXAMPLE: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
SURVEY SUBJECT - To determine the ratio of consumers who buy counterfeit products
• To determine the ratio of WHY PUBLIC PREFER NUMBER TWO GOODS
• If you wish to carry out statistical analysis of the opinions of a group of people about
a particular issue or element of their lives, you can ask them to express their relative
agreement with statements and answer on a five- or seven-point scale, where 1 is
strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is neutral, 4 is agree and 5 is strongly agree (the
seven-point scale also has slightly agree/disagree.
EXAMPLE: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
SUBJECT- effective criminalization of intellectual property crimes
• Interviews, which may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured
• Focus groups, which involve multiple participants discussing an issue

Descriptive research, as its name suggests, describes the state of affairs as it exists at present. It
reports only what has happened or what is happening. Main concentration of Descriptive Research is
the WHAT part of the question and not the WHY part. Example: teacher evaluation surveys.
Analytical research usually concerns itself with cause-effect relationships. the researcher uses his
facts or information already available and makes their analysis to make a critical evaluation of the
material. Research is WHY part not the what part. Example; attempts to explain how and why the
surge in the value of U.S. dollar is going to affect the U.S. economy.

Applied research/ action research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem. A
sociologist, for example, when works with a social problem to find solution

Fundamental research/ pure research/ basic research, is mainly concerned with generalization
and with the formulation of a theory. He undertakes research only to derive some increased
knowledge in a field of his inquiry. Example: A study into the ways of improving the levels of
customer retention for Wall-Mart in China.

Conceptual research is related to some abstract idea(s) or theory. It is generally used by

philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to re-interpret the existing ones. Example:
Application of Austin’s Theory, Command of Sovereign, backed by sanction in the Modern Welfare
State.

Empirical Research: also known as experimental research. it mostly relies on experience and
observation. In Law, empirical research is used to study institutions, rules, procedures, and personnel
of the law, with a view to understanding how they operate and what effects they have.

DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:

Legal researcher potentially aims to conduct doctrinal legal research. Research which
pertains to consideration, analysis of laws, rules, case laws is DLR.

Basic Categories of legal research:

Doctrinal legal research is defined as research into legal doctrines through analysis of
statutory provisions and cases by the application of power of reasoning. It gives emphasis on
analysis of legal rules, principles or doctrines.
While non-doctrinal legal research is defined as research into relationship of law with other
behavioral sciences. Research which pertains social impact of law on society is NDLR.
Doctrinal legal research emphasizes on the Development of Legal Theories. While non-
doctrinal legal research emphasizes on Social impact of Legal Theories, Applicability with
respect to era and society.
‘Every doctrinal research is not devoid of non-doctrinal research.’

EXPLANATION OF Doc Legal Research:

Doctrinal legal research, as conceived in the legal research domain, is research ‘about’ what
the prevailing state of legal doctrine, legal rule, or legal principle is. A legal scholar
undertaking doctrinal legal research, therefore, takes one or more legal propositions,
principles, rules or doctrines as a starting point and focus of his study.
For example, a legal researcher interested in criminal law might start with proposition dealing with
right against self-incrimination.

He will ‘locate’ the proposition and its discussions in treatises and textbooks on criminal law, criminal
procedure, and constitutional law, encyclopedia and leading legal periodicals. He will also try to
locate all relevant judicial pronouncements of the higher judicial institutions delved into the right
against self-incrimination.

He will then ‘read’ these materials and ‘analyze’ them by applying his power of reasoning and will,
premised on analytical perspective, draw some conclusions about the proposition.

He then will write up his study. He may propose advance a set of formulations, with convincing
‘reasoning’ about the proposition.

He, in his research report, may offer an alternative comprehensive paradigm of the doctrine. He may
also find a comparable doctrine or rule from other jurisdictions. He may, depending upon ‘objectives’
of his research, also propose a new formulation of the rule or doctrine or a statutory provision.

SCOPE:
Doctrinal legal research involves:
I. systematic analysis of statutory provisions and of legal principles involved therein, or
derived therefrom
II. logical and rational ordering of the legal propositions and principles. The researcher
gives emphasis on substantive law rules, doctrines, concepts and judicial
pronouncements.
III. Classic works of legal scholars on the law of torts and administrative law do furnish
outstanding examples of doctrinal legal research.
RESEARCH APPROACH:
Doctrinal legal research, in addition to analytical one, may be historical or comparative
• Historical legal research, unlike analytical one, deals with the past. It throws light on
the past to understand the present. It explores the circumstances that led to the
adoption of the existing law. It also often reveals that a particular existing
provision/law is no longer justifiable because the reasons or circumstances that
justified the original inclusion of that provision/law are no longer valid
• While comparative legal research, as evident from its title, involves comparative
study of comparable laws or legal institutions from different jurisdictions. It exhibits
the lessons that can be learnt from each other’s failures and achievements
AIMS AND BASIC TOOLS:
• aims to study case law and statutory law, with a view to find law
• aims at consistency and certainty of law
• (to some extent) looks into the purpose and policy of law that exists, and
• aims to study legal institutions
• legislative provisions and judicial decisions constitute the basic data for a doctrinal
legal researcher.
BASIC TOOLS:
• The relevant Acts of Parliament (along with the amendments made thereto from
time to time);
• Secondary or subordinate legislations (in the form of rules, regulations, orders,
notifications, byelaws, and statutory orders)
• Case Reports
• However, in addition to these original sources of data, the researcher may have to
look into secondary source materials such as research articles published in leading
legal periodicals, text and reference books on the subject.

NON-DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:

Reasons for inquiring social factors of law includes the emergence of sociological
jurisprudence, Interest of legislators for inquiring social factors of law, behavioural approach
of rulers or ruled, gap between legal idealism and realism. Furthermore, a number of facts or
factors that lie outside a legal system may be responsible for poor implementation of a given
piece of social legislation
AIMS
• Are laws and legal institutions serving the needs of society?
• Are they suited to the society in which they are operating?
• What forces in society have influenced shaping or re-shaping a particular set of laws
or legal norms?
• Are laws properly administered and enforced or do they exist only in statute books?
 • What are the factors, if any, responsible for poor or non-implementation of the laws?
BASIC TOOLS
The basic tools of data collection for a socio-legal research, thus, are
• interview,
• questionnaire,
• schedule,
• interview guide,
• observation, participant or non-participant, and
• published or unpublished materials
NATURE OF TOOLS:
• Primary source of information: direct or original source of information e.g statutes and
case laws.
• Secondary source of information: gives information regarding primary source. explanation
or interpretation of statutes, commentaries.
• Tertiary source of information: sources where we get primary and secondary sources
from.