Module LAWM687 for 2017/8
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
LAWM687: Socio-Legal Research Skills
This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Seminar 1 Methodological issues in legal and socio-legal research: positivist and interpretive approaches
Seminar 2 Research Design: theory, methodology and interdisciplinarity - some case studies
Seminar 3 Research Ethics and Empirical Research in Law: Issues, Codes and Implications
Seminar 4 Data gathering and data protection: from court records to cyber space and beyond
Seminar 5 Quantitative methods in socio-legal research: techniques (e.g. structured interviews, questionnaires) validity (including sampling), presentation and case studies
Seminar 6 Qualitative methods in socio-legal research: ethnographic techniques (e.g. semi-structured interviews, interpretive biographies, focus groups, participant observation, action research) validity, presentation, case studies, new developments
Workshop 1 Practical research design exercise plus group presentation and presentation feedback
Workshop 2 Practical research exercise on qualitative methods, e.g. questionnaires/interviews/ethical issues
Seminar 7 Modes of Analysis, e.g. thematic analysis, content analysis and responsive recent developments
Workshop 3 Two Practical research exercises on qualitative analysis involving use of N6/NVivo and quantitative analysis involving use of SPSS.
Seminar 8 Further methodological issues: cross-cultural and cross-jurisdictional data
Workshop 4 Student-led oral presentation.
Seminars (with web-based support where appropriate) will first introduce the methodological issues (including issues arising from an interdisciplinary approach) in socio-legal research. They will then consider how the collection/generation of data should fit within a broader research agenda and be sensitive to issues such as privacy and research ethics. This will lead to a consideration in depth of a number of key sources and methods of data collection and analysis routinely employed by social scientists including those conducting empirical research in law. These issues and methods will be explored through case studies and exposure of students to a variety of methods and appropriate practical work, incorporating group work and independent practical exercises which will be interspersed with the staff-led seminars
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 270 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 20 hours | 8 (2.5 hour) staff-led seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 10 hours | 4 (2.5 hour) practical workshops |
| Guided independent study | 270 | Private study |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Banakar, R. and Travers M. (eds.) An Introduction to Law and Social Theory (Hart Publishing, 2002).
Banakar, R. and Travers M. (eds.) Theory and Method in Socio-Legal Research (Hart, 2005).
Bryman A. Social Research Methods, 3rd ed, 2008
Bryman, A (ed.) (1988) Doing Research in Organisations (Routledge)
Bulmer, M. (ed.) (1982) Social Research Ethics (Macmillan)
Creswell, J Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method Approaches (Sage: 2002)
De Vaus, D. Surveys in Social Research, 3rd Edn,1996.
Ewick and Sibley, The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life (Chicago University Press 1998), Chapter 1 and 2
Glaser, B. and A. Strauss (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Weidenfeld and Nicolson)
Harrington, Christine and Barbara Yngvesson (1990) "Interpretive Sociolegal Research", 15 Law and Social Inquiry 135
Jay R and Hamilton, A. Data Protection Law and Practice, Sweet and Maxwell, 1999
Maclean, M. and H. Genn (1979) Methodological Issues in Social Surveys (Macmillan)
Pallant, J. SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows (Version 15) 3rd ed, 2007.
Ragin, C. TheComparative Method, (Berkley: University of California, 1987
Samuel, G. Epistemology and Method in Law (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003)
Sarat, A. Off to Meet the Wizard: Beyond Validity and Reliability in the Search for a Post-empiricist Sociology of Law (1990) 15 Law and Social Inquiry 155-170
Shapiro and Stone, "Testing, Comparison, Prediction", Chapter 4 of On Law, Politics and Judicialization, OUP 2002
Silverman, Doing Qualitative research: A practical handbook Sage, 2000.
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. Grounded theory in practice, 1997.
Thomas, P. (ed) Socio Legal Studies (Aldershot, Dartmouth) 1997
Trubek, D. and Esser, J. "Critical Empiricism in American Legal Studies: Paradox, Program or Pandora's Box?" 14 Law and Social Inquiry 3
Mason, J. Qualitative Researching, 2nd Edn, Sage, 2002.
Punch, M. (1986) The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork (Qualitative Research Methods Series, Sage University Press)
Socio-Legal Studies Association, Statement of Ethical Practice, 2002
Social Research Association Code of Research Ethics
Van Hoeke (2004) Epistemology and Methodology of Comparative Law (Hart Publishing)
Ward, A. (1995) Copyright Ethics and Oral History (Oral History Society, Department of Sociology, University of Essex)
