| Introduction to Empirical Legal Studies

This introductory course is designed for law students who are interested in learning about the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods to study legal systems. In this course, we will cover the basics of empirical legal research including research design, data collection, statistical analysis, and the interpretation of results. To illustrate examples of these techniques, we will also look at foundational empirical legal scholarship from across the globe as well as work applying empirical methods to study the legal system in India. The course is standalone and does not require any prior knowledge of mathematics or statistics.

The course delivery will include a mix of lectures, discussion seminars, and hands-on exercises with real-world legal data. Components of the course will be sequential, starting from collection and visualisation of data till inferential statistical methods including regression analysis. There will be four workshop classes, where students will be able to try some of the statistical techniques they learnt on public datasets. During the course, students will work on their own empirical research paper for which they will receive feedback and guidance from the instructor.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the basics of research design in empirical legal studies, including when the use of quantitative and qualitative methods is appropriate in legal research.

2. Learn how to critically evaluate sources of data and literature in the field of empirical legal studies.

3. Develop the ability to use descriptive statistics and visualisation to interpret and analyse data.

4. Learn to use empirical techniques such as regression analysis to evaluate policy and make evidence-based suggestions for legal system reform.

5. Write an original research paper to analyse a legal problem through the empirical analysis of existing public data.