Holdings Information

Bibliographic Record Display

• Title:An introduction to empirical legal research / Lee Epstein, Andrew D. Martin.
  
•    
• Author/Creator:Epstein, Lee, 1958- author.
  
• Other Contributors/Collections:Martin, Andrew D., author.
  
• Published/Created:Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.
  

• Holdings

  Holdings Record Display

  • Location:LAW LIBRARY (level 3)Where is this?
    
  • Call Number: K85 .E67 2014
    
  • Number of Items:1
    
  • Status:Available
    

   
• Library of Congress Subjects:Legal research--Methodology.
  
• Edition:First edition.
  
• Description:xiv, 324 pages ; 24 cm
  
• Summary: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, analyzing 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 practicing 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.
  
• Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
  
• ISBN:9780199669059 (Hbk)
  0199669058 (Hbk)
  9780199669066 (Pbk)
  0199669066 (Pbk)
  
• Contents:Machine generated contents note: 1. Some Preliminaries
  1.1. Defining Empirical Research
  1.2. Conducting Empirical Research in a World Without Constraints
  1.3. Conducting Empirical Research in a World With Constraints
  1.4. (Revisiting) The Goals of Empirical Research
  pt. I Designing Research
  2. Questions, Theories, Observable Implications
  2.1. Research Questions
  2.2. Theories and their Observable Implications
  2.3. Rival Explanations
  3. Measurement
  3.1. Measuring Concepts
  3.2. Evaluating Measures and Measurement Methods
  pt. II Collecting and Coding Data
  4. Collecting Data
  4.1. Identifying the Target Population
  4.2. Locating and Generating Data
  4.3. Deciding How Much Data to Collect
  5. Coding Data
  5.1. Developing Coding Schemes
  5.2. Assigning a Value to Each Unit Under Study
  pt. III Analyzing Data
  6. Summarizing Data
  6.1. Variables
  6.2. Introduction to Tools for Summarizing Variables
  6.3. Displays
  6.4. Descriptive Statistics
  6.5. Empirical Rule
  7. Statistical Inference
  7.1. Logic of Statistical Inference
  7.2. Confidence Intervals
  7.3. Hypothesis Testing
  7.4. Cross-Tabulation and Tests for Tables
  8. Regression Analysis: The Basics
  8.1. Lines and Linear Relationships
  8.2. Ordinary Least Squares
  8.3. Simple Linear Regression and Statistical Inference
  9. Multiple Regression Analysis and Related Methods
  9.1. Multiple Regression
  9.2. Model Specification
  9.3. Logistic Regression
  pt. IV Communicating Data and Results
  10. General Principles for Communicating and Visualizing Data and Results
  10.1. General Principles for Communicating Data and Results
  10.2. General Principles for Visualizing Data and Results
  11. Strategies for Presenting Data and Statistical Results
  11.1. Communicating Data
  11.2. Presenting Results
  12. Concluding Remarks
  Appendix A Supplementary Materials
  A.1. Additional Resources
  A.2. Statistics Glossary
  A.3. Statistical Notation.