Research Methodology*

Mian Ali Haider

L.L.B., L.L.M (Cum Laude)
U.K.
*(Contents of this PPT are not mine, infact, gathered from different electronic materials)
 What is Research ?

• Legal research is an art as well as a skill. It calls for judgment and creativity
along with mastery of a set of tools and techniques.

• Each research question will have a different starting point, process, and
conclusion.

• Every research project will include false starts, dead ends, and revisions.

• There is never one “right” path. Researchers choosing different paths for the
same research question may be equally successful.

• Legal research is never “finished,” but the experienced researcher recognizes

when to stop.
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 What is Research ?

• The starting point of research depends on the nature of the issue, how
it is presented to the researcher, and the researcher’s experience.

• The starting point for research may be a fact pattern, a subject, an

issue, a case, or a statute.

• At the outset, determine if your research will be exclusively in case

law or if there are statutes or regulations that should be explored.

• Determine whether your research will be primarily in federal law or

state law, or both.
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 Objectives of Research
• To discover the answer to questions through the application of
scientific procedures.

• To test the hypothesis

• To portray accurately the characteristics of particular law

• To gain familiarity with a particular phenomenon.

• To find the truth which is hidden and has not been discovered as yet.

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 TARP Model

T Things, Subject Matter, Place

A Cause of Action, Grounds
R Relief
P Person or Parties involved & their relationship to
each other
It is not always necessary to think of words to fit
each TARP category. However, an analysis of the
facts with TARP will suggest alternative ways in
which the problem can be researched.
USE YOUR IMAGINATION.
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 Types of Legal Research
• Doctrinal Legal Research
• Interdisciplinary Research
• Pure Research
• Applied Legal Research

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 Doctrinal Research
• It is concerned with the formulation of legal ‘doctrines’
through the analysis of legal rules.
• Within the common law jurisdictions legal rules are to be
found within statutes and cases (the sources of law)
• but it is important to appreciate that they cannot, in
themselves, provide a complete statement of the law in any
given situation.
• This can only be ascertained by applying the relevant legal
rules to the particular facts of the situation under
consideration.
• Doctrinal research is therefore concerned with the
discovery and development of legal doctrines 7
 Interdisciplinary Research
• Research about law
• An evaluation of the effectiveness of a particular
piece of legislation in achieving particular social
goals or an examination of the extent to which it is
being complied with.
• An uncertain or ambiguous legal ruling can often
be more easily interpreted when viewed in its
proper historical or social context, or when the
interpreter has an adequate understanding of the
industry or technology to which it relates
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 Pure Research

• Pure academic knowledge about the

operation of the law,
• Knowledge of the same kind which has
been produced with a particular purpose in
mind.
• The purpose of it will generally be to
facilitate a future change, either in the law
itself, or in the manner of its administration
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 Applied Research

• It aims at finding a solution for an

immediate problem
• Also called ‘law reform research’.
• The terms ‘law in context’ and,
increasingly, ‘socio-legal research’ are more
often used in the UK

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 Types of Research Methodology

• The basic types of research are

• Descriptive
• Analytical
• Applied
• Fundamental
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Conceptual
• Empirical
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 WHEN to Write

• Write early, write often !Writing is thinking.

• Never get it right first time, two approaches
– The bricklayer
– The dumper
• Generally best to hybridise
– Outline
– Draft individual components
– Polish
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 The Habit of Writing

• Establish a process.
• Avoid binges; little and often- e.g. after
reading a paper, but not immediately -
Why?
• Analyse how you spend your time, not how
you would wish to, ..it is very illuminating!
• Make a plan for each stage of writing up.

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 Making it Readable II

• Coherence lends readability

• Sentences should be ordinal in character
• See the hook-and-eye technique of
analysing sentences
• Use active voice as much as possible
– watch the chronology …...was, has been, did
etc……..

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 Making it Readable III

• Trim the fat in successive drafts

• If the eye pauses, the mind stumbles
• Get someone else to read your work,
someone picky, knowledgeable and
someone that you respect. Never argue with
this person about their opinion on what you
have written !

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 How to do Research

• Doing research is hard work!

• Hard to stay motivated in a vacuum
• Contact with others (supervisor & other
students) important
• Hardest parts are finding topic & writing up
• Usual stumbling blocks - Design/Evaluation
• A Plan - with fail-safes - is vital.
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 Daily Grind

• Many operations involved

– reading papers
– writing reviews of papers & tracking papers
– discussing ideas
– having brilliant ideas and discovering which
ones are worth bothering with
– living in a dreamlike state, - I know it really!
– keeping a journal
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 Strategic Grinding

• Be selective in what you read

– find appropriate conferences
– quiz your supervisor or academic staff member
– scan before reading, read abstract and
conclusions first
– if it still looks interesting, read and read again
– summarise the ideas in journal/work notes
– its normal to be overwhelmed
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 Evaluating Papers
• Did the ideas described really work?
• Cut through the jargon, are there any
interesting ideas underneath it all ?
• What motivated the authors ?
• What choices were open to the authors ?
• Validity of assumptions ?
• What was their result ?
• Any future directions ?
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 Staying on Top

• A routine: daily, weekly helps to keep you

focused, working and motivated.
• Avoid telling yourself you should have a
review of topic, should have 3,000 papers
read, should work 10 hours a day, etc.
• Divide and conquer.

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 Doubts about the Topic

• Happens all the time! …others still

interested? - it is probably worthwhile!
• Look at future work section of papers and
other dissertations, Masters and PhDs.
• Rightsize your dissertation problem
• Interest flagging - separate the topic from
the logistics.

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 The Supervisor Role

• Supervision - i.e. guidance and suggestion,

not marking, teaching, correction, auxiliary
worker input /analysis.
• Realisation of research and quality- student.
• Supervisor - decide work plan with student,
try to keep on-track and to time. Available
to discuss ideas, problems and queries as
these arise, but not to lay out a blueprint.
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 What is a Postgraduate
Dissertation ?

• Useful contribution to knowledge !

• Readers will ask
– what is the question here ?
– is it a good question ?
– is it adequately answered ?
– is there a contribution to previous knowledge?

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 Justifying your Efforts

• Clearly state the question

• Originality proven by?
– thorough review of topic and closely related
topics
– reference review to demonstrate that
• question not previously answered
• it is worth answering

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 Writing the Thesis I

• Does not usually happen in two phases,

work/write; can be highly iterative
• You will have a range of tasks, keep a few
for when you do not feel like tackling the
awkward ones.
• Develop an outline EARLY, not tablets of
stone
• TARGET audience and style correctly
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 Writing the Thesis II

• Audience will be less knowledgeable on

detail than you!
• Explain motivations, goals, methodology,
make no assumptions apart from basics.
• Get feedback
– supervisor, seminars, conference opportunities
– friends and other researchers
– give feedback too
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 The Generic Dissertation
Skeleton I

• Abstract
– general introduction
– summary of the question
– justification for question
– birdseye view of the result
• Background information
– particularly if you span two or more traditional
areas (dissertations/theses often do)
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 Generic Dissertation Skeleton II

• Literature review
– state of the art
– organised by ideas, not time/author/geography
• The research question (core/foundation)
– concise statement of question
– justification, refer closely to review (analysis)
– explain why question is worthwhile
(applicability)
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Generic Dissertation Skeleton III

• Description -Design/methods/methodology
– Possibly many sections to some chapters -
balance
– Aim to show that question has been fully
answered
– Show relevance of work to solution
– Avoid detailing blind alleys unless they
contribute to showing that question is answered

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton IV
• Conclusions, generally in three sections
– conclusions
• short concise statements of inferences made as a
result of the work done
• conclusions must be directly related to the research
question/problem raised previously
– summary of contribution
• examiners will scrutinise this section
– future research
• useful to people following in your tracks
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 Generic Dissertation Skeleton V

• References
– closely tied to the review done early in the
dissertation
– examiners usually check out this section early
on and will form preliminary assessment
notions early, so pay attention
– references must appear in the main body
– use the guidelines published by OSCOLA

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Generic Dissertation Skeleton VI

• Appendices
– material which casts light on the work done but
which would impede the clear delivery of ideas
• mathematical proofs unless prime focus
• program listings
• huge tables of data

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 How Long Does it Take ?

• How long is a piece of string ?

• Writing up is one of the MAJOR activities
of doing research
• Organisation of ideas is the hard bit
• You will find weaknesses/flaws only when
you start to write up, - state them!
• Allow approx. 30% of time for writing up
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 Think of the Reader

• Make no unreasonable assumptions about

your audience
• Examiners hate to be made to work hard
on trivia
- to understand poorly named sections,
organise ideas themselves from your work
and wade through bad grammar

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 Lesson Learned!

• Research is an Original Contribution to

Knowledge.
• You must show two things
– Identification of an unanswered question
– The Answer !

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How to impress Mian Ali Haider 
To carry a reader you have to complete three steps:
– Pick up the reader and tell them where you’re going
(Introduction).
– Take them to another place, one which they would not
have discovered on their own (Middle).
– Put them down, explain how they got there, and
describe what they can do next (Conclusions).
THIS IS A USEFUL AND IMPORTANT SKILL
TO GET GOOD MARKS

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 MY Goal

The training of lawyers is a training in logic

SO CONVINCE ME

with Logic & arguments to Mark you good

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