Theoretical overview
Research:
The word research is composed of two syllables, re and search.
“Re” means again, a new or over again and “Search” means to examine closely and carefully, to test and try, or to probe.
Together it would mean a careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or principles (Grinnell 1993).
The simplest meaning of research is to search for facts, answers to research questions and solutions for problems.
Scientific Research is a systematic and objective attempt to provide answers to certain questions.
The purpose of scientific research is to discover and develop an organised body of knowledge.
Therefore, scientific research may be defined as the systematic and empirical analysis and recording of controlled observation, which may lead to the development of theories, concepts, generalisations and principles, resulting in the prediction and control of those activities that may have some cause-effect relationship.
Characteristics of research
- Research is a creative process.
- It is systematic.
- It is logical.
- It is purposeful.
- Research has to be accurate.
- It gathers new knowledge and sometimes could even replace old knowledge.
- The human mind is always searching for answers and thus making research universal.
Criteria for good research
- The purpose of research should be clearly defined and common concepts that are used should be operationally defined.
- The research procedure should be precisely planned, focused and appropriately described in order to enable other researchers to do research for further advancement.
- Research design should be carefully planned to generate results to maintain objectivity.
- The research report should be as much as possible truthful enough to gauge the effects of the findings.
- Data analysis in the research report should be adequate to reveal its significance and the method of analysis employed be appropriate and
- The validity and reliability of data should be examined carefully.
Legal research
- Legal Research is one of the aspects of the study of human behaviour, interactions, and attitude pertaining to any law under the research studies.
- It is the study of the relationship between the world of the law and the world that the law purports to govern.
- The systematic investigation of problems and of matters concerned with the law such as Codes, Acts, Constitution, etc. is legal research. Judges, Lawyers, Law Commissions and researchers constantly do research in law.
- Legal Researchers do make systematic research into facts of social, political and economic conditions which give rise to individual rules, acts or codes. They also examine the socio-legal and other effects of those acts or rules.
Nature and scope of legal research
- It is not different from other types of research. The basic principles of research apply to Legal Research as well.
- The issue of inquiry usually relates to pure law or law in relation to society.
- It is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal judgements. In a broader sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation.
- The nature of legal issues and the subject matter of law is different from other scientific research.
Characteristics of legal research
- It deals with social and behavioural phenomena. It studies the behaviour of human beings as members of society, and their feelings, responses, and attitudes under different circumstances.
- Legal Research is carried out both for discovering new legal facts and verification of old ones.
- Legal research tries to establish a connection between various human activities. Close research discloses the truth that most human behaviour is motivated by definite rules and universal laws.
- Legal research tries to give solutions to legal problems.
Types of legal research
- Descriptive Legal Research
Descriptive Legal research is defined as a research method that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon that is being studied. This methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject rather than the “why” of the research subject.
For example: If a lawyer is trying to find out the crime trends in Delhi. He would conduct surveys, ask people and collect evidence through newspaper reports, interviews, etc. He is potentially questioning what is the pattern of crime in Delhi rather than why is it happening.
- Quantitative Research
Quantitative Legal Research is a characteristic of Descriptive Legal Research Methodology that attempts to collect quantifiable information to be used for statistical analysis of the population sample using sampling methods like online surveys, online polls, questionnaires, etc., the results of which can be depicted in numerical form. After a careful understanding of these numbers, it is possible to predict the future and make changes to manage the situation.
An example of quantitative research is the survey conducted to understand the turnaround time of cases in the high court and how much time it takes from the time the case is filed until the judgment is passed.
- Qualitative Legal Research
Qualitative Legal Research is a subjective form of research that relies on the analysis of controlled observations of the legal researcher. In qualitative research, data is obtained from a relatively small group of subjects. Data is not analyzed with statistical techniques. Usually, narrative data is collected in qualitative research.
For example, research on the history of the death penalty.
- Analytical Legal Research
Analytical Legal Research is a style of qualitative inquiry. It is a specific type of research that involves critical thinking skills and the evaluation of facts and information relative to the research being conducted. Lawyers often use an analytical approach to their legal research to find the most relevant information. From analytical research, a person finds out critical details to add new ideas to the material being produced.
For example, examining the fluctuations of Crime Rates in India between 2010-2020 is an example of descriptive research; while explaining why and how the Crime rates spiked over time is an example of analytical research
- Empirical Legal Research
Empirical Legal Research describes how to investigate the roles of legislation, regulation, legal policies, and other legal arrangements at play in society. It acts as a guide to paralegals, lawyers, and law students on how to do empirical legal research, covering history, methods, evidence, growth of knowledge, and links with normativity. This multidisciplinary approach combines insights and approaches from different social sciences, evaluation studies, Big Data analytics, and empirically informed ethics.
Stages of legal research
- Every research begins with a question or a problem of some sort.
- The aim of the research is to know ‘something more’ about ‘something’ or to discover answers to meaningful questions through the application of scientific procedures.
- Legal research is not an exception to this general precept of research. However, undertaking and executing legal research, as a systematic inquiry, is a complex process. It involves a three-stage process.
- The processes are research planning, research implementation, and presenting of research findings.
- Research planning requires the necessary sub-skills for:
fact collection, legal analysis, legal knowledge, problem identification, fact analysis, and further fact collection.
- Research implementation, as the second-stage process, involves the skills pertaining to:
Identification of problems for resolution, identification of relevant research source materials, location of the source materials, effective use of the source materials, analysis of research findings, and application of findings to the identified problem(s).
- While the third-stage process, i.e. presentation of research findings, requires the skills necessary for: the selection of an appropriate format or framework, and the use of clear and succinct language.
A hypothesis is merely a tentative assumption made in order to draw and test its logical or empirical consequences. A statement to be a hypothesis must be capable of being tested. If its validity cannot be put to empirical confirmation may cease to be a hypothesis.
However, it is important to note that a hypothesis is not required in all types of legal research. A researcher, for example, indulged in descriptive legal research is not required to formulate a hypothesis. Statement of problem in the form of a hypothesis, invariably, is required in socio-legal research or empirical legal research, wherein the researcher is interested in finding a ‘link’ between a ‘legal fact’ and a ‘social fact’ or is interested in assessing ‘impact of law’.
Points to remember
- Legal Research is one of the aspects of the study of human behaviour, interactions, and attitude pertaining to any law under the research studies.
- It is the study of the relationship between the world of the law and the world that the law purports to govern.
- The basic principles of research apply to Legal Research as well.
- Legal Research is carried out both for discovering new legal facts and verification of old ones.
- Descriptive Legal research is defined as a research method that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon that is being studied. This methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject rather than the “why” of the research subject.
- Quantitative Legal Research is a characteristic of Descriptive Legal Research Methodology that attempts to collect quantifiable information to be used for statistical analysis of the population sample using sampling methods like online surveys, online polls, questionnaires, etc., the results of which can be depicted in numerical form.
- Qualitative Legal Research is a subjective form of research that relies on the analysis of controlled observations of the legal researcher. In qualitative research, data is obtained from a relatively small group of subjects.
- Analytical Legal Research is a style of qualitative inquiry. It is a specific type of research that involves critical thinking skills and the evaluation of facts and information relative to the research being conducted.
- Empirical Legal Research describes how to investigate the roles of legislation, regulation, legal policies, and other legal arrangements at play in society. It acts as a guide to paralegals, lawyers, and law students on how to do empirical legal research, covering history, methods, evidence, growth of knowledge, and links with normativity.
