2.2.

TYPES OF RESEARCH
✡ According to CR Kothari, the basic types of research are:
1. Descriptive and Analytical Research,
2. Applied and Fundamental Research,
3. Quantitative and Qualitative Research, and
4. Conceptual and Empirical Research
2.2.1. Descriptive vs. Analytical Research:
✟ Descriptive research, as its name suggests, describes the
state of affairs as it exists at present.
✟ It merely describes the phenomenon or situation under
study and its characteristics.
✟ It reports only what has happened or what is happening.
✟ It therefore does not go into the causes of the phenomenon
or situation.
1
✟ The methods commonly used in descriptive research
are survey methods of all kinds, including compara-
tive and co-relational methods, and fact-finding en-
quiries of different kinds.
✟ Thus, descriptive research cannot be used for creat-
ing causal relationship between variables.
✟ While in analytical research, the researcher uses his
facts or information already available and makes their
analysis to make a critical evaluation of the material.
 2.2.2. Applied vs. Fundamental Research:
✞ Applied research or action research aims at finding a
solution for an immediate problem.
✞ Here the researcher sees his research in a practical
context.
2
✞ While in fundamental research or pure research or
basic research, the researcher is mainly concerned
with generalization and with the formulation of a
theory.
✞ He undertakes research only to derive some in-
creased knowledge in a field of his inquiry.
✞ He is least bothered about its practical context or util-
ity.
✞ Research studies concerning human behavior carried
on with a view to making generalizations about hu-
man behavior fall in the category of fundamental or
pure research.
✞ But if the research (about human behavior) is carried
out with a view to solving a problem (related to hu-
man behavior), it falls in the domain of applied or ac-
3
tion research.
✞ The central aim of applied research is to discover a solution
for some pressing practical problem.
✞ While that of fundamental research is to find additional in-
formation about a phenomenon and thereby to add to the
existing body of scientific knowledge.
✞ The ‘applied’ scientist is thus works within a set of certain
values and norms to which he feels committed.
✞ A sociologist, for example, when works with a social prob-
lem to find solution therefore and proposes, through a sys-
tematic inquiry, a solution or suggests some measures to
ameliorate the problem, his research takes the label of ‘ap-
plied’ or ‘action’ research.
✞ But when he undertakes a study just to find out the ‘what’,
‘how’ of the social problem, his inquiry takes the nomen-
clature of ‘pure’ or ‘fundamental’ research.
4
✞ In fact, they are not mutually exclusive.
✞ There is a constant interplay between the two, each
contributing to the other in many ways.
 2.2.3. Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research:
☂ Quantitative research is based on the measurement
of quantity or amount.
☂ It is applicable to a phenomenon that can be ex-
pressed in terms of quantity.
☂ It is systematic scientific investigation of quantitative
properties of a phenomenon and their inter-relation.
☂ The objective of quantitative research is to develop
and employ mathematical models, theories and hy-
potheses pertaining to the phenomenon under in-
5
quiry.
☂ The process of measurement, thus, is central to quantita-
tive research because it provides fundamental connection
between empirical observation and mathematical expres-
sion of quantitative relationship.
☂ Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with
qualitative phenomenon, i.e. phenomenon relating to or
involving quality or kind.
☂ For example, when a researcher is interested in investigat-
ing the reasons for, or motives behind, certain human be-
havior, say why people think or do certain things, or in in-
vesting their attitudes towards, or opinions about, a partic-
ular subject or institution, say adultery or judiciary, his re-
search becomes qualitative research.
☂ Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research relies on
reason behind various aspects of behavior.
6
2.2.4. Conceptual vs. Empirical Research:
➲Conceptual research is related to some abstract
idea(s) or theory.
➲It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to
develop new concepts or to re-interpret the existing
ones.
➲Empirical research relies on experience or observa-
tion alone, often without due regard for system or
theory.
➲It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions
that are capable of being verified by observation or
experiment.
➲It is therefore also known as experimental research.
➲In empirical research, it is necessary to get facts first-
hand, at their source.
7
➲ In such a research, the researcher must first provide him-
self with a working hypothesis or guess as to the probable
results.
➲ He then works to gets enough facts (i.e. data) to prove or
disprove his hypothesis.

2.3. RESEARCH METHODS AND RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY:
♠ The term ‘research methods’ refers to all those methods
and techniques that are used by a researcher in conduct-
ing his research.
♠ The term, thus, refers to the methods, techniques or tools
employed by a researcher for collecting and processing of
data, establishing the relationship between the data and
unknown facts, and evaluating the accuracy of the results
obtained.
8
♠ Sometimes, it is used to designate the concepts and
procedures employed in the analysis of data, howso-
ever collected, to arrive at conclusion.
♠ In other words, ‘research methods’ are the ‘tools and
techniques’ in a ‘tool box’ that can be used for collec-
tion of data (or for gathering evidence) and analysis
thereof.
♠ ‘Research methods’ therefore, can be put into the fol-
lowing three groups:
1. Collection of Data.
2. Relationships b/n the data and the unknown.
3. The methods which are used to evaluate the accuracy
of the results obtained.
9
♠ The term ‘research methodology’, on the other hand, refers
to a ‘way to systematically solve’ the research problem.
♠ It is a ‘science of studying how research is done scientifically’.
♠ It involves a study of various steps and methods that a re-
searcher needs generally to adopt in his investigation of a re-
search problem along with the logic behind them.
♠ It is a study of not only of methods but also of explanation
and justification for using certain research methods and of
the methods themselves.
♠ It includes in it the philosophy and practice of the whole re-
search process.
♠ research methodology is a set of rules of procedures about
the way of conducting research.
♠ It includes in it not just a compilation of various research
methods but also the rules for their application (in a given
situation) and validity (for the research problem at hand).
10
♠ Research methodology has many dimensions and
research methods do constitute a part of the re-
search methodology.
♠ The scope of research methodology is wider than
that of research methods.
♠ Thus, when we talk of research methodology we
not only talk of the research methods but also
consider the logic behind the methods we use in
the context of our research study and explain why
we are using a particular method or technique
and why we are not using others so that research
results are capable of being evaluated either by
the researcher himself or by others.
11
A study of research methodology has the following advantages:
1. It inculcates in a researcher the ability to formulate his research
problem in an intelligent manner.
2. It inculcates in him objectivity in perceiving his research problem
and seeking solutions therefore.
3. It equips him to carry out his research undertaking in an efficient
manner and in a better way.
4. It enables him to take rational decisions at every step of his re-
search.
5. It enables him to design appropriate research technique(s) and
to use it (them) in an intelligent and efficient manner.
6. It enhances his ability to analyze and interpret data with reasonable ob-
jectivity and confidence.
7. It enhances ability of the researcher and/or others to evaluate research
findings objectively and use the research results in a confident way.
8. It entails a good research.
9. It enables him to find a satisfactory way of acquiring new knowledge.

12
2.4. Scope of Legal Research in the Common Law
System and the Civil Law System:
In the common law system:
Legislature enacts substantive law.
Executive wing of a State, drawing authorization from a
substantive law, supplements the substantive law in the form
of rules, regulations, statutory orders, notifications and
byelaws.
While courts, as and when called upon, interpret the ‘law’
and gives finality to it through their judicial pronouncements.
Courts, particularly higher ones, however, do not only ‘ap-
ply’ law to the ‘facts’ and ‘issues’ brought and agitated before
them but also, through their judicial pronouncements, ‘make’
law.
They are, generally, bestowed with wide judicial discretion.

13
They are empowered to determine ‘legality’ as well as adjudicate
‘finality’ of ‘law’ or ‘legal provision’.
The lower courts are bound by ‘precedent’.
In the common law system, therefore, the basic assumption is
that if there is a judicial decision in the past having facts and le-
gal issues similar to those in the case currently before the court,
the outcome of the past case should control the outcome of the
present case.
Therefore, in the common law system Legislature, Executive as
well as Judiciary do constitute ‘source’ of law.
A legal researcher, with a view to understanding ‘law’ on a par-
ticular topic or subject, therefore has to ‘locate’, ‘appreciate’ and
analyze apt Acts of Parliament, subsidiary legislative instruments,
if any, and judicial pronouncements.
He has to focus his attention on the primary source materials,
like the Constitution and Statutes (along with statutory instru-
ments), and leading judicial pronouncements (the precedents).

14
In the Civil Law System:
Acts of Parliament, supplemented by appropriate
Regulations and Directives, if any, do constitute ‘pri-
mary’ sources of ‘law’.
Courts are required only to ‘apply’ them.
In no way, they are expected to ‘make’ law through
their judicial pronouncements.
Hence, the law of precedent, unlike in common law
jurisdictions, is irrelevant.
Nevertheless, a judicial statement of a higher court
may have an inspirational or persuasive value in terms
of its reasoning.
In civil law system, a legal researcher, with a view un-
derstanding law on a topic, therefore, has to merely
concentrate on the primary sources of law.
15
However, there is hardly any material difference in the na-
ture and scope of legal research in these two legal systems-
the common law and the civil law system.
In both the systems, broad strategy and utility of legal re-
search is alike.
They only differ in their emphasis on the material
required/used for carrying out legal research.
A legal researcher from the common law jurisdiction relies
heavily upon, and gives importance to, apt statutory mate-
rials (the Constitution, statutes and other statutory instru-
ments) and case reports (including case comments and case
digests) for ‘ascertaining’, ‘understanding’ and ‘appreciat-
ing’ law on the topic or area of his inquiry.
A legal researcher from a civil law system, on the other
hand, focuses and prominently relies on the statutory mate-
rials for ‘ascertaining’, ‘understanding’, and ‘appreciating’
law.
16
Under both the legal systems, a researcher has to
resort to identical methods of data collection and
of analysis when he is interested in highlighting
‘social dimension of law’ or ‘gap’ between the le-
gal idealism and social reality or assessing ‘impact
of law’ on the social behavioral pattern.
In other words, the strategy and paradigm of so-
cio-legal research in both the systems are similar.
Ethiopia is a civil law country.
Nevertheless, the Ethiopian legal system exhibits
some common law elements.
17
2.5. Importance (Purpose) of Legal Research:
✾Legal research is necessary for the purpose of:
I.for ascertainment of law on a given topic or subject,
II.to highlight ambiguities and inbuilt weaknesses of law,
III.to critically examine legal provisions, principles or
doctrines with a view to see consistency, coherence and
stability of law and its underlying policy,
IV.to undertake social audit of law with a view to high-
lighting its pre-legislative ‘forces’ and post-legislative
‘impacts’, and
V.to make suggestions for improvements in, and devel-
opment of, law.

18
✾ Legal research needs to be carried out for the fol-
lowing reasons:
1. To ascertain laws on a given topic or subject.
2. To identify ‘gaps’ and ‘ambiguities’ in law.
3. To critically examine consistency, coherence and
stability of law and legal propositions.
4. To undertake ‘social auditing of law’ [i.e. auditing
pre-Legislative ‘forces’ and post-Legislative ‘im-
pacts’ of law].
5. To suggest reforms/developments in law by un-
dertakings research intended:
19
2.6. Who Does Legal Research?
By a Legislator
By a Judge
By a Lawyer
By a Law Teacher and Student of Law
2.7. Legal Research and Methodology:
Law is a normative science as it sets norms of human behavior.
Most of the times, it also plays a role of catalyst for bringing so-
cio-economic change.
It is a means to an end.
A systematic investigation of the first dimension of law (as a
normative science), generally, falls in the domain of legal
academia.
A scholar of law, generally, undertakes a rigorous systematic
analysis, exposition and critical evaluation of legal rule, legal prin-
ciple, legal concept or doctrine (i.e. legal fact).

20
2.8. Sources of Information:
The various sources of information may be categorized into:
primary, secondary and tertiary.
Primary sources:
The sources that contain original information and observa-
tions are known as primary sources of information.
Such information can be collected directly from the persons
having such information or can be found in research papers
published in legal periodicals/ journals, reports, thesis and
conference papers.
Legal periodicals and journals are indispensable sources of
information for a legal researcher.
They contain wealth of the first hand and in-depth informa-
tion on a particular point.
Reports, published by Governmental or non-governmental
agencies, also contain rich information on the subject of in-
quiry.
21
Doctoral dissertations (thesis leading to Ph.D. Degree),
which offer very systematic and in-depth analysis of the
subject-matter/aspect delved therein and the conclusions/
opinions/suggestions based on the analysis, constitute an-
other primary source of information. Similar is the case of
conference papers.
Primary sources in legal research, therefore, are the Consti-
tution, National Gazette, which publish Acts/Proclama-
tions passed by Parliament (and by State Legislature),
Rules, Regulations, Statutory Orders, and Directives of
Administrative Agencies, and case reports that publish ju-
dicial pronouncements of different higher courts.
All these sources contain rich original information/observa-
tions about the identified research problem.
They are indeed indispensable for any legal researcher.

22
Secondary Sources:
Secondary sources of information furnish the information de-
rived from primary sources.
These sources organize the information in a systematic manner
and in a planned way.
These secondary sources include:
textbooks,
treatises,
commentaries on statutes,
abstracts,
bibliographies,
dictionaries,
encyclopedias,
indexes,
reviews, and
thesaurus.
23
Textbooks, legal treatises, and commentaries on
statutes constitute significant secondary sources of
legal research.
Textbooks and legal treaties offer a researcher proper
idea of the subject and enable him to find several
other useful sources of information on the topic of his
research.
They also help him in comprehending basic principles
of, and judicial statements on, the topic under inquiry.
Abstracts are brief statements of the contents of re-
search articles published in periodicals and/or an-
thologies, without appraisal.
Abstracts provide a simplified key to find relevant
studies from the vast literature on the subject.
Bibliographies list books and related materials on a
24
particular subject.
They contain the author’s name, title, place of publication,
publisher and the year of publication.
An annotated bibliography provides a brief analysis of the
contents.
Dictionary contains an alphabetical listing of words with
their meaning, spelling, pronunciation, derivation and
grammatical usage.
However, with the growth of knowledge, it has not been
possible for general language dictionaries to keep up with
technical terms developed in the various fields.
So the need for subject specific dictionaries arose.
A legal researcher, therefore, can find a couple of legal dic-
tionaries of worth consulting.
The most frequently referred to, and widely used, is Black’s
Law Dictionary.
Encyclopedia is a book of information in the form of con-
densed articles on every subject.
25
It furnishes greater details (of the subjects dealt
there under) than a dictionary.
It provides meaning and historical background of
concepts, important theories, names and refer-
ences of major works.
Encyclopedia is thus the treasure house of knowl-
edge on various subjects, including law.
There are a number of encyclopedias that may be,
depending upon his subject of inquiry, of great use
to a legal researcher.
Indexes are alphabetical listing of subjects and/or

26
authors of the literature included therein.
A review is an integrated and organized discussion of
the literature pertaining to a well-defined subject.
It usually covers a limited period of time.
A thesaurus is a book of words grouped by ideas.
Its purpose is to help identify synonymous and find
the exact word.
Roget’s Thesaurus accomplishes this task for the Eng-
lish language.
With an ever-increasing list of technical words.
Thesaurus are also available for many disciplines, in-
cluding law.
These are compilations of the vocabulary used to
identify concepts in the literature within a given area.
27
Tertiary Sources:
Tertiary sources include:
directories,
subject guides and
Union lists.
There are numerous scientific directories that
provide list of journals, scientists, universities.
They list their information quite like the tele-
phone directory.
These help the researcher to tap appropriate
journals and expert advice on the topic of research.

28
Union list is the list of all the journals that are
available either in the given library (union list for
the library) or all the libraries in the country (na-
tional union list).
The union list for a particular library tells you the
journals the library subscribes to, the issues of
these journals that are available and the missing
volumes.
Union lists are in valuable in tracking down a
journal.
If a journal you need is not available in your local
library the national union list will help you locate a
library in the country that has a copy.
29
2.9. Major Stages in Legal Research:
Legal Research involves a three-stage process.
Each one of them warrants skill.
The Research processes are:
1.Research Planning,
2.Research Implementation, and
3.Presenting of Research Findings.

30
Research planning requires the necessary sub-
skills for:
• fact collection,
• legal analysis,
• legal knowledge,
• problem identification,
• fact analysis,
• further fact collection,
• identification of avenues of research, and
• generation of key (search) words

31
 Research implementation, as the second-stage
processes, involves the skills pertaining to:
 identification of problems for resolution,
 identification of relevant research source materi-
als,
 location of the source materials,
 effective use of the source materials,
 analysis of research findings,
 application of findings to the identified
problem(s), and
 identification of further problem(s).
32
 While the third-stage process, i.e. presentation of
research findings, requires the skills necessary for:
 identification of the (research) recipients’ needs,
 selection of appropriate format or framework,
 use of clear and succinct language, and
 use of appropriate language-style (informatory,
advisory, recommendatory, or demanding).
 A cumulative reading of these three-stage pro-
cesses of legal research leads to the following ma-
jor processes that, like any other research, involve
in legal research.
 They may be presented in a flowchart as under:

33
 Identification and Formulation of a Research Problem

Review of Literature

Formulation of a Hypothesis
(where feasible)

Research Design

Collection of Data

Analysis of Data

Interpretation of Data

Research Report
34
 Chapter 3: Types of Legal Research: Doctrinal and Non Doc-
trinal
General Overview
Doctrinal legal research is a research into legal doctrines
through analysis of statutory provisions and cases by the ap-
plication of power of reasoning.
It gives emphasis on analysis of legal rules, principles or
doctrines.
While non-doctrinal legal research is a research into rela-
tionship of law with other behavioral sciences.
It gives prominence to relationship of law with people, so-
cial values and social institutions.
It endeavors to highlight the relationship between law and
other behavioral sciences and social facts.
It involves empirical inquiry into the operation of law.
35
Doctrinal legal research endeavors to develop
theories.
Non-doctrinal legal research endeavors to see as
to whether the theories, the doctrines, that we
have assumed are appropriate to apply in society
at a given time, are still valid and relevant.
Non-doctrinal legal research helps to test whether
the theories assumed (in law) work in the way they
should be.
Doctrinal legal research is ‘research in law’ while non-
doctrinal legal research is ‘research about law’.

36
DLR involves a systematic exposition, analysis and
critical evaluation of legal rules, doctrines or con-
cepts, their conceptual bases, and inter-relation-
ship.
A doctrinal legal researcher indulges into analysis
of ‘black-letter’ of law.
While a non-doctrinal legal researcher is inter-
ested in knowing ‘law-in-action’ through empiri-
cism.

37
 DLR is nicknamed as ‘arm-chair research’, or ‘ba-
sic or fundamental research’.
 While, non-doctrinal legal research, which gets its
data primarily from sources other than law [i.e.
society] and focuses on ‘social reality of law’
rather than on ‘law’ itself, is also known as ‘empir-
ical research’, ‘socio-legal research’, ‘sociology of
law’ or ‘non-library research’.

38
DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH:
DLR is research ‘about’ what the prevailing state
of legal doctrine, legal rule, or legal principle is.
A legal scholar undertaking doctrinal legal re-
search takes one or more legal propositions, princi-
ples, rules or doctrines as a starting point and focus
of his study.
DLR involves:
1.Systematic analysis of statutory provisions and of
legal principles involved therein, or derived there-
from, and
2.Logical and rational ordering of the legal proposi-
tions and principles.
39
 The researcher gives emphasis on substantive law rules,
doctrines, concepts and judicial pronouncements.
 Classic works of legal scholars on the law of torts and ad-
ministrative law do furnish outstanding examples of DLR.
 DLR may be analytical, historical or comparative.
 Historical legal research, unlike analytical one, deals with
the past.
 It throws light on the past to understand the present.
 It explores the circumstances that led to the adoption of
the existing law.
 Comparative legal research involves comparative study of
comparable laws or legal institutions from different jurisdic-
tions.
 It exhibits the lessons that can be learnt from each other’s
failures and achievements.

40
Aims and Basic Tools of Doctrinal Legal Research:
Aims:
Aims of DLR are:
1.aims to study case law and statutory law, with a view
to find law,
2.aims at consistency and certainty of law,
3.To some extent, looks into the purpose and policy of
law that exists, and
4.aims to study legal institutions.
Therefore, DLR should not be undermined merely be-
cause it revolves around statutes and judicial decisions.
It immensely contributes to the continuity, consis-
tency and certainty of law.

41
Basic Tools of DLR:
The basic tools of a doctrinal legal researcher are:
1.statutory materials,
2.case reports,
3.standard textbooks and reference books,
4.legal periodicals,
5.Parliamentary Debates and Government Reports, and
6.Micro films and CD-ROM.
These tools, depending upon the nature of informa-
tion they contain, may be re-categorized into primary
and secondary sources of information.
National Gazette and Case Reports fall as primary,
while the rest fall in the secondary.

42
Advantages and Limitations of DLR:
Advantages:
DLR has a number of advantages:
1.It provides quick answers to the problem at hand. Empirical re-
search, unlike doctrinal legal research, takes much more time to draw
conclusions.
2.Legal principles or doctrines, with sound reasoning lead to a well-
developed law. In this context, evolution and development of law of
torts and of administrative law, for example, stand as classic testi-
mony of doctrinal legal research.
3.DLR contributes in our ‘understanding’ of ‘law’, legal concept or
doctrine, and legal processes in a better way.
4.DLR uses to fill the gap and loopholes in the substantive laws.
5.DLR helps in theory building.
6.DLR supports to predict the future fate of existed laws.
7.DLR provides a sound basis for non-doctrinal legal research.
43
Limitations:
DLR, in spite of the above-mentioned strengths, suf-
fers from certain limitations of worth nothing:
1.Ultimately the research output become ‘subjective’
and exhibit the researcher’s ‘perception’ about the in-
quired subject-matter.
Thus, different scholars may perceive a legal fact or
doctrine differently with equally convincing logical rea-
soning.
2. DLR, undeniably, becomes merely theoretical and
devoid of any social facts.
3. DLR does not involve a study of the factors that lie
outside law or legal system but have directly or indi-
rectly influenced the operation of the law.
44
4. DLR gives prominence to traditional sources of
law and judicial pronouncements of appellate
courts.
 The actual practice and attitude of lower courts
and of administrative agencies with quasi-judicial
powers, whose judgments remain unreported,
are left unexplored in doctrinal legal research.

45
NON-DOCTRINAL LEGAL RESEARCH OR SOCIO-LEGAL
RESEARCH፡
Prominent reasons and arguments stressing the need
for inquiry into social facets of law are:
Almost every modern civilized State perceives ‘law’ as
an active instrument of socio-economic justice and
thereby a vehicle of social engineering.
It becomes necessary to look into the ‘factors’ or ‘in-
terests’ of the Legislature that play significant role in
setting the legislative process in motion and in identify-
ing the beneficiaries thereof and the reasons therefore.
The Legislature, armed with sociological practical
feedback, can fulfill its job in a more satisfactory man-
ner.

46
  To remove the bottlenecks for the opera-
tion of the law or to minimize their influ-
ence on the law so that the law can be
made an effective instrument of socio-eco-
nomic transformation.
 To identify the gaps between actual social
behavior and legal norm demanded by the
law then to strengthening potentials of law
as a vehicle for socio-economic justice.

47
Aims and Basic Tools of NDLR:
Aims:
In a non-doctrinal legal research, the researcher
tries to investigate through empirical data how law
and legal institutions affect or mold human attitudes
and what impact on society they create.
He endeavors to look into ‘social face or dimen-
sion’ of law and ‘gap’, if any, between ‘legal ideal-
ism’ and ‘social reality’.
Non-doctrinal legal research, thus, involves study
of ‘social impact’ of law (existing or proposed) or of
‘social-auditing
48
of law’.
 The researcher tries primarily to seek, among other things, answers to:
I. Are laws and legal institutions serving the needs of society?
II. Are they suited to the society in which they are operating?
III. What forces in society have influenced shaping or re-shaping a particular set of
laws or legal norms?
IV. Are laws properly administered and enforced or do they exist only in statute
books?
V. What are the factors, if any, responsible for poor or non-implementation of the
laws?
VI. What are the factors that influenced the adjudicators (courts or administrative
agencies) in interpreting and administrating the laws?
VII. For whose benefit a law is enacted, and are they using it? Have the intended
‘legislative targets’ benefited from the law? If not, for what reasons? Where do
‘bottlenecks’ lie?
VIII. What has been impact of the law or legal institutions in changing attitude of the
people or molding their behavior? and what are the social obstacles in realiza-
tion of the expected behavior or change?

49
 The inquiry, in ultimate analysis, relates to:
A. the legislative processes (inquiring into the initia-
tion and formalization of law, and the forces, fac-
tors or pressure groups that played significant role
in its making and with what objectives),
B. its social assimilation (involving an inquiry into its
operational facets and the factors that are re-
sponsible for making it dysfunctional), and
C. its impact on the intended beneficiaries (involving
a post-natal study of the law).

50
 Most of non-doctrinal legal research, thus, seeks:
1. to assess the impact of non-legal factors or events
upon legal processes or decisions, or
2. to find the ‘gap’ between legal idealism and social
reality, or
3. to identify and appraise the magnitude of the
variable factors influencing the outcome of legal
processes and decisions-making, or
4. to trace the consequences of the outcome of legal
decision making in terms of value gains and de-
privations for litigants, non-litigants, non-legal in-
51
stitutions.
 The distinguishing characteristics of a non-doctri-
nal legal research are:
1. it lays down a different and lesser emphasis upon
legal doctrines and concepts,
2. it seeks answers to a variety of broader questions,
3. it is not anchored exclusively to appellate case re-
ports and other traditional legal sources for its
data, and
4. it invariably involves the use of research perspec-
tives, research designs, conceptual frameworks,
skills, and training not peculiar to law trained per-
sonnel.
52
 To put it differently, non-doctrinal legal research aims
at highlighting the ‘gaps’ that exist between the ‘law-
in-the statute book’ (that is, the image of law pro-
jected in the books) and ‘law-in-action’ (that is, the
perception it exhibits in reality), and impact of law on
the social behavior.
 The former discloses the gap between legal idealism
and social reality and thereby it highlights the dis-
junction that exists between the law-in-the books
and the law-in-action.
 While the latter, highlights the factors that are
thwarting the operation of law and thereby diminish-
ing the attainment of its goal.
 It helps us to find out the deficiencies in an enact-
ment and the problem of its implementation and its
impact on the society.
53
Basic tools:
There are several ways of collecting empirical data for social-legal re-
search.
The required information can be collected from the identified respon-
dents in a face-to-face interaction by administrating them a set pre-deter-
mined questions or through sketchy questions prepared by the respondent.
These methods of data collection are known as ‘interview’ and ‘schedule’
respectively.
The pre-determined questions can also be administered to the respon-
dents indirectly through post, fax, emails or any other appropriate methods
of communication.
This method of data collection is known as ‘questionnaire’.
A socio-legal researcher can also collect the required information by sys-
tematic ‘observation’ of a phenomenon, behavior of his respondents or in-
stitutions that constitute focus of his study or by studying other existing
records that reflect the phenomenon under his inquiry.
54
 The basic tools of data collection for a socio-legal research are:
1. interview,
2. Questionnaire,
3. schedule,
4. interview guide,
5. observation, participant or non-participant, and
6. published or unpublished materials (such as Census Reports, Reports of Gov-
ernmental and/or Non-Governmental Agencies, and appropriate literature on
sociology of law).
 The first four methods of data collection are ‘primary sources’ of empirical data
as they are used in getting the required information ‘directly’ from the respon-
dents.
 While the last one is ‘secondary source’ of information as the researcher col-
lects the necessary information ‘indirectly’ from published and/or unpublished
documents.
 Further, ‘interview’ and ‘schedule’ involve direct ‘oral communication’ between
the information-giver (respondent) and the information-seeker (investigator),
while ‘questionnaire’ involves ‘written communication’ between the researcher
and his respondents.
 In ‘observation’, unlike in interview, schedule and questionnaire, the researcher
uses his ‘eyes’, rather than ears, for collecting data.
 Hence, it is a ‘visual method’ of data collection.
55
 Interview, a verbal technique of data collection, may be struc-
tured or unstructured.
 The former involves the use of a set of pre-determined ques-
tions and highly standardized technique of recording re-
sponses thereto.
 The latter, as opposed to the former, is characterized with
flexibility of approach to questioning the respondents and
lesser-standardized way of recording the responses.
 Interview is the most commonly used method of data collec-
tion in the study of human behavior.
 It is regarded as ‘a systematic method by which a person en-
ters more or less imaginatively into the life of a comparative
stranger’.
 It is used to either secure the information from the person
who alone knows the subject or a particular matter.
56
 Interview is the most effective method of gaining information about a
person’s perceptions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, opinions, motivations,
anticipations or plans. It also enables the interviewer to further authenti-
cate the information flowing from the respondent by observing his facial
reactions and other gestures during his narration. However, interview, as
a method of data collection, is an art. Not everybody can resort to it, un-
less he is trained in formulating questions, their administration and
recording responses thereto.
 One of the limitations of the interview is the involvement of the individ-
ual in the data he is reporting and the consequent likelihood of bias.
 Even if we assume the individual to be in possession of certain facts, he
may withhold or distort them because to communicate them is threaten-
ing or in some manner destructive to his ego.
 Thus, extremely deviant opinions and behavior, as well as highly personal
data, have long been suspect when obtained by personal interviews.
 Another limitation on the scope of the interview is the inability of the re-
spondent to provide certain types of information.
 Memory bias is another factor which renders the respondent unable to
provide accurate information.

57
 Questionnaire is that method of data collection in which a num-
ber of typed or printed pre-determined questions are used for
collecting data.
 It is usually mailed to the respondents with a request to respond
the questions in the space provided therefor and to send it back
to the investigator.
 Like interview, questionnaire may be structured or unstructured.
 The questions may be open-ended, close-ended, mixed or picto-
rial.
 This method is quite popular and useful when information is to
be sought from numerous respondents who are scattered in a
vast area.
 Compared to interview, it works out to be cheaper and quicker.
 It also facilitates uniform tabulation Schedule is referred to as a
form filled in during a personal interview in which both the in-
terviewer as well as the respondent are present.

58
 In this method, the investigator himself presents
the questions to the respondent and records his re-
sponse.
 Questionnaire and schedule have much in common. In
both the forms of data collection, the wordings of the ques-
tions are the same for all the respondents.
 However, at the same time there are two prominent differ-
ences between the two.
 First, questionnaire is usually mailed to the respondents for
filling in their responses to the questions listed therein,
whereas schedule is referred to a form filled in by the in-
terviewer during his personal interview with the respon-
dent.
 Secondly, questionnaire, due to its impersonal nature, is
rigid, whereas schedule, which like in interview allows the
investigator to clarify questions, if they are not clear to the
respondent, is more flexible.
59
 There is yet another related tool of data collection, which is
popularly known as interview guide.
 It contains only the topic or broad headings on which the ques-
tions are to be asked to the respondents.
 The researcher formulates questions on these topics on the spot
and records the responses thereto.
 Interview guide is generally used in case of qualitative or in-
depth interviews.
 Observation, which involves a visual method of data collection,
becomes a scientific method of data collection if it, in the con-
text of subject-matter of inquiry, is planned systemically,
recorded systematically, and is subjected to checks and controls
on validity and reliability.
 Observation may be participant or non-participant.
 In the former, the investigator mingles with the respondents to
observe and record a phenomenon.
 While in the latter, he observes and records a phenomenon
from distance.
60
 Published or unpublished documents/reports may also
serve as useful sources of information requisite for a socio-
legal research.
 However, the investigator needs to carefully scrutinize the
information and to ensure himself about reliability and ad-
equacy of the data before he uses the information in his
inquiry.
Advantages and Limitations of Non-Doctrinal Legal Research:
Advantages:
 Non-doctrinal legal research seeks answers to a variety of
questions that have bearing on the social-dimension or so-
cial-performance of law and its ‘impact’ on the social be-
havior.
 In fact, it concerns with ‘social-auditing of law’.
 Hence, socio-legal research has a number of advantages.
 A few prominent among them are:

61
 First, social-legal research highlights the ‘gaps’ be-
tween ‘legislative goals’ and ‘social reality’ and
thereby ‘depicts’ a ‘true picture’ of ‘law-in-action’.
 It particularly highlights the ‘gap’ in relation to:
I. the practice of law enforcers, regulators and adjudi-
cators and
II. the use or under-use of the law by intended benefi-
ciaries of the law.
 The regulatory body, existing or created under the
law, vested with the power to monitor and enforce
the law, may, due to some prejudices or apathy to-
wards the ‘beneficiaries’ or sympathy towards their
adversaries, be professionally ‘inactive’ in enforcing
the law.
62
 Non-doctrinal legal research highlights the ‘reasons’ be-
hind making the law ‘symbolic’, less-effective or ineffec-
tive.
 It also reveals the extent to which the beneficiaries have
been (or have not been) able to ‘use’ the law and the
‘reasons’ or ‘factors’ that have desisted/are desisting
them from using it.
 Through empiricism, non-doctrinal legal research high-
lights the underlying currents or factors (like unawareness
on part of the beneficiaries, unaffordable cost in seeking
the legal redress, or the fear of further victimization if the
legal redress is pursued, and the like) that have been de-
sisting them from seeking the benefits that the law in-
tended to bestow on them and to seek legal redress
against those who prevent them from doing so.
63
 It, thus, exposes the ‘bottlenecks’ in operation of
law.
 Secondly, non-doctrinal legal research carries signif-
icance in the modern welfare state, which envisages
socio-economic transformation through law and
thereby perceives law as a means of achieving so-
cio-economic justice and parity.
 Through empiricism, socio-legal research assesses
‘role and contribution of law’ in bringing the in-
tended social consequences.
 It also helps us in assessing ‘impact of law’ on the
social values, outlook, and attitude towards the
64
‘change(s)’ contemplated by law under inquiry.
 It highlights the ‘factors’ that have been creating
‘impediments’ or posing ‘problems’ for the law in
attaining its ‘goal(s)’.
 Thirdly, non-doctrinal legal research provides an
‘expert advice’ and gives significant feedback to the
policy-makers, Legislature, and Judges for better
formulation, enforcement and interpretation of the
law.
 Fourthly, socio-legal research renders an invaluable
help in ‘shaping’ social legislations in tune with the
‘social engineering’ philosophy of the modern state
and in ‘making’ them more effective instruments of
the planned socio-economic transformation.
65
Limitations of Non-doctrinal Research:
First, non-doctrinal legal research is extremely time
consuming and costly as it requires a lot of time for col-
lecting the required information from field.
Further, it calls for additional training in designing and
employing tools of data collection and entails greater
commitments of time and energy to produce meaning-
ful results, either for policy-makers or theory-builders.
Secondly, socio-legal research, needs a strong base of
doctrinal legal research.
A legal scholar who is weak in doctrinal legal research
cannot handle non-doctrinal legal research in a mean-
ingful way.
66
 It may turn out to be a futile exercise leading to no signifi-
cant results.
 Thirdly, the basic tools of data collection, namely interview,
questionnaire, schedule and observation, are not simple to
employ.
 They require specialized knowledge and skill from the stage
of planning to execution.
 Each one of them is bridled with a number of difficulties.
 A researcher has to have a sound skill-oriented training in
social science research techniques.
 A cumulative effect of this limitation of non-doctrinal legal
research and of the one mentioned in secondly is that a
well-trained social scientist cannot undertake socio-legal
research without having a strong base in doctrinal legal re-
search.
67
 Similarly, a scholar of law, though having a strong
base in legal principles, concepts or doctrines as well
as in doctrinal legal research, cannot venture into
non-doctrinal legal research unless he has adequate
training in social science research techniques.
 In either case, non-doctrinal legal research becomes
a mere nightmare for both of them.
 A way out, therefore, seems to be an inter-disci-
plinary approach in investigating legal problems.
 However, inter-disciplinary legal research has its own
difficulties and limitations.
 Fourthly, invariably public opinion, influences con-
tents and framework of law.
 Law, most of the times, also seeks to mold and/or
change the public opinion, social value and attitude.
68
 In such a situation, sometimes it becomes difficult for
a non-doctrinal legal researcher to, on the basis of
sociological data, predict with certainty the ‘course’
or ‘direction’ the law needs to take or follow.
 Such a prediction involves the maturity of judgment,
intuition, and experience of the researcher.
 He may fall back to doctrinal legal research.
 Nevertheless, sociological research may be of some
informal value to the decision-makers.
 Fifthly, sometimes, because of complicated social, po-
litical and economic settings and varied multiple fac-
tors a socio-legal researcher may again be thrown
back to his own ideas, prejudices and feelings in fur-
nishing solutions to certain problems.
69
 Sixthly, Socio-legal research becomes inadequate and inapt
where the problems are to be solved and the law is to be
developed from case to case (like in administrative law and
law of torts).

INTER-RELATION BETWEEN DOCTRINAL AND NON-DOCTRI-

NAL LEGAL RESEARCH
These two broad types of legal research- doctrinal legal re-
search and non-doctrinal legal research- are overlapping
rather than mutually exclusive.
It is difficult to draw a sharp theoretical or pragmatic line of
differentiation between the two.
In doctrinal legal research the main objective is to clarify
the law, to take a position, to give reasons when the law is
in conflict, and, perhaps, to suggest methods for improving
the law.
70
 It involves the identification of ‘fact’, its underlying
policy, and ‘measures’ for improvement.
While non-doctrinal legal research gives emphasis on
understanding ‘social dimension’ or ‘social facet’ of
law and its ‘impact’ on the ‘social attitude’.
It gives emphasis on ‘social auditing of law’.
In doctrinal legal research legal materials, such as
statutes, regulations, and cases, are used, whereas in
non-doctrinal legal research, materials from other
fields, like sociology, are sought and used.
Doctrinal legal research and non-doctrinal legal research,
thus, are not mutually exclusive.
They compliment each other.
71
 Non-doctrinal legal research cannot supplant doc-
trinal legal research.
It can be a valuable supplement or adjunct to
doctrinal legal research.
It is now accepted that theoretical research with-
out any empirical content is hollow and that em-
pirical work without supporting theory is shallow.

72
 UNIT 4: MODELS OF LEGAL RESEARCH AND CURRENT
TRENDS IN LEGAL RESEARCH
Models of Legal Research:
1.Evolutive and Evaluative
2.Identificatory and impact studies
3.Projective and Predictive
4.Collative
5.Historical
6.Comparative
Current trends in legal research:
1.Mono-disciplinary legal research
2.Trans-disciplinary legal research
3.Inter-disciplinary legal research
73
1. Evolutive and Evaluative:
☞ A legal research gets the label of ‘evolutive model of legal
research’ when a researcher endeavors to find out how a
legal fact, rule, concept, an institution or the legal sys-
tem itself come to be what it is today.
☞ He attempts to trace the origin and development of a le-
gal fact, [such as rule against self-incrimination or double
jeopardy], or a legal institution, [like the institution of an
ombudsman or a judicial institution, say the Federal
Supreme Court of Ethiopia].
☞ Such legal research can also be undertaken even to trace
the development of a given law, like the development of
constitutional law of a country.
74
☞ Evaluative model of legal research aims at ex-
pounding the logical coherence of concepts, ele-
ments, facts and interests of legal phenomenon
individually, of their relationship inter se and their
relationship with the concepts, elements, facts
and interests outside the legal system for deter-
mining and defining the terms and presupposi-
tions used in law.

75
☞ The research is to ascertain the nature, scope and
source of law in order to explain what law is, and also
to spell out several propositions used in law.
2. Identificatory and impact studies:
❁ Almost every law, other than procedural law has cer-
tain ‘legislative goal(s)’ to attain, and ‘legislative tar-
gets’ to handle through ‘law’.
❁ A legal researcher, through an identificatory legal re-
search, seeks to ascertain the ‘beneficiaries’ of a par-
ticular law or legal provision.
❁ His interest is to find out the persons (or group of
persons) for whose benefit the identified law (or legal
fact) is made to exist.
76
❁ To be more precise, he seeks to answer the ques-
tion-which are the parties expected or intended
to be benefited by a given rule, concept, institu-
tion or the system of law.
❁ Identification of the parties intended to be bene-
fited by a particular law or legal fact help to ascer-
tain the legislative intent or object of that law or
legal fact and to seek and clarify the justification
for its existence.
❁ It also helps to ascertain the legal framework and
strategy employed in it to help the ‘intended’
beneficiaries.
77
❁ It further helps to ascertain whether the intended
beneficiaries are actually being benefited or not.
❁ An identificatory legal research serves to assess
the utility of the law or a legal fact under inquiry.
❁ Such a model of legal research, for example, can
be successfully used by undertaking research into
the law relating domestic violence, child abuse or
harmful traditional practices.
❁ Impact of law studies endeavor to assess effec-
tiveness or actual result of an established or a
newly conceived law, legal provision, rule or insti-
tution.
78
❁ Here legal researcher gives emphasis not on con-
tents of the substantive law under inquiry but on its
ultimate impact on the society or its legislative tar-
get.
❁ His focus is not merely on the law as is found in the
Codes, Statutes, judicial pronouncements and trea-
tises but on its operation or ‘law in action’.
❁ He intends to study and understand the effects of the
working of law and legal institutions on the life of the
individuals and society at a particular time and place.
❁ The focus of inquiry, thus, is the ‘law in action’ and
on the behavioral and attitudinal changes of the
79
people effected by law.
❁ He intends to record and explain how a particular legal
fact works within a given social setting.
❁ The investigation involves identification of non-legal
factors or forces that affect the legal fact(s) in bringing
about the intended changes in the society and their in-
teraction with legal facts.
3. Projective and Predictive:
• A legal researcher generally uses projective model of
legal research when he wants to anticipate and high-
light effects of a draft legislation or a proposed legal
measure.
• Such a legal research is mainly attitudinal, intended to
anticipate the probable response in terms of rejection
or acceptance of a proposed measure.
80
• Its purpose is to identify the parties who stand for
and against the proposed law or legal measure and
to locate determinant variables and situations for
peoples’ apathy or sympathy.
• Predictive legal studies are used when a legal re-
searcher intends to anticipate and highlight possible
misuse of the proposed law or legal measure.
• Such a legal research helps the lawmakers to mini-
mize or to do away with the possible undesirable
consequences of the proposed measure.
• Predictive legal studies are generally carried out by
Law Commissions, Parliamentary Committees or Joint
Select Committees, invariably, before a proposed le-
gal measure takes formal shape and becomes opera-
tional.
81
4. Collative:
When a legal researcher prepares a digest of laws,
statutory provisions, judicial pronouncements or an-
notated bibliography on a particular topic or subject,
that research gets the label of collative legal research.
Here the legal researcher collects all the relevant ma-
terials, with or without its summary, on a given topic
and arranges/classifies them in a logical manner.
Digests of cases and statutes, like Halsbury’s Statutes
of England and Yearly Digests (of cases published by All
India Reporter, India), published by well-known law
publishers fall in this category of legal research.

82
 It would be a mistake to undermine this type of
legal research as inferior to other types of legal
research.
 Properly collated legal material, which is reliable,
reasonably extensive and classified logically, is as
much contribution to legal writing as any other
material.
 A well-collated material will serve a useful pur-
pose by reducing the labor of researchers.
 It offers reliable versions of the law.
 Collative material has its own value and collative

83
research is an end in itself.
5. Historical:
In historical legal research, a legal researcher intends
to trace historical antecedents of a legal fact.
Tracing history of a particular legal fact becomes sig-
nificant for its following attributes.
First, it becomes useful, rather warranted, when the
present statute or statutory provision has raised mean-
ingful queries and it becomes necessary to explore the
circumstances in which the present position came out.
In such circumstances, it gives a significant clue to the
reasons why it (the particular law or legal provision)
was framed in the form in which now it appears.

84
 It helps to remove certain doubts about the legal fact.
 Secondly, it supplies the researcher the reasons that justify
the present position.
 It would also exhibit that a particular existing provision,
fully justifiable at the time when it was introduced, is no
longer so justifiable because the reasons and the circum-
stances that justified its inclusion are no longer valid or ex-
ist.
 Thirdly, it discloses the alternatives, different than the cur-
rently adopted ones, which were considered and rejected
by the lawmakers and reasons therefore.
 Such a revelation not only exhibits the sound and valid rea-
sons for rejection of an alternative but also discloses the
comparative positive and negative attributes of different al-
ternatives that were thought of (or rejected) and of that
85
are adopted in the legislation under inquiry.
 In this way, it initiates or contributes in legal reforms.
 Fourthly, history of a legal fact, when traced deeply
and arranged logically, shows the gradual evolution
of the law or legal fact on certain lines, and thereby
of general trend of its change.
 It shows the way the legal fact is evolved.
 Fifthly, historical background of law enables law-
makers to know the principles used or followed by
Legislature from home or abroad in earlier identical
law(s) as very few pieces of legislation are original in
the sense of being pure innovations of a skilled
draftsman.
 In majority of the cases, Legislature consults and
adapts earlier statutes or makes use of principles laid
down or proposed in decided cases.
86
 Sixthly, historical background of law or a statutory
provision helps judiciary (particularly in Common Law
jurisdictions) in interpreting law in a more rational
and pragmatic way as historical research helps it to
know the historical and political spirit in which that
particular law (or a legal provision) came into exis-
tence and for what reasons.
 Laws are not made in a vacuum.
 They are passed in order to meet some needs of so-
ciety.
 Seventhly, a law may have relevant international
background when it is enacted to give effect to the
treaty obligations accepted by the government to-
wards other countries.
87
 The practical importance of an understanding and
knowledge of that wider political context is evi-
denced by the increasing willingness of the courts
to take account of relevant international instru-
ments when construing the legislation.
6. Comparative:
 A comparative legal research carries significance
as Legislators imitate each other and try to learn
from each other’s experience.

88
CURRENT TRENDS IN LEGAL RESEARCH:
1.Mono-disciplinary legal research:
‘Mono-disciplinary legal research’ as the discipline involved
is only one, i.e. ‘law’.
All doctrinal legal researches obviously fall in this category.
However, mono-disciplinary legal research, in spite of its
potentials to contribute in bringing clarity, consistency and
certainty in law and initiating reforms in law, has its own limi-
tations.
It is addressed to a limited audience-the members of the
profession –judges and lawyers and it is meant to assist them
in the discharge of their day-to-day professional tasks.
It does not fully reflect the social dimensions of law.
Therefore, the feedback it supplies to the policy-makers is
merely partial.

89
2. Trans-disciplinary legal research:
 An inquiry into a legal fact transgresses the discipline of
‘law’ and touches upon the disciplines ‘related’ to law.
 Such a legal research, to distinguish it from the former one,
may be labeled as trans-disciplinary legal research.
 It is worth to recall here that law does not operate in a
vacuum.
 It operates in a complex social setting.
 It has certain roles to play in a society.
 Each legal rule, in ultimate analysis, intends to apply and
govern a factual situation of life.
 He goes ‘beyond law’ and peeps into other disciplines, with
which ‘law’ is proximately connected.
 Socio-legal research generally falls into the category of
trans-disciplinary legal research.
90
 Trans-disciplinary legal research, compared to mono-
disciplinary legal research, has more potential for
contributing to the advancement of knowledge and
development of law as it depicts comparatively holis-
tic picture of the legal fact under inquiry.
 However, trans-disciplinary legal research may be:
 quasi-disciplinary,
 multi-disciplinary, or
 inter-disciplinary in nature.
 Quasi-disciplinary legal research is a research under-
taken by the same scholar of law in different perspec-
tives that transgress the discipline of law.
91
 For example, legal research undertaken by a scholar
of law, well conversant with religious literature,
delves into personal laws and highlights niceties of
legal issues associated therewith, or a writer on taxa-
tion laws makes use of his learning in accountancy or
public finance to explain in depth the legal rules, falls
in this category.
 A multi-disciplinary legal research, unlike quasi-disci-
plinary research, involves a study of a common prob-
lem by scholars of several disciplines, each studying it
from his own specialized angle.
 For example, scholars of law, sociology, or political
science may individually study the issues pertaining
to gender equality or an affirmative action.
92
 Inter-disciplinary legal research is a research en-
deavor undertaken jointly by scholars belonging to
different disciplines.
 However, the first and the last sub-types of trans-dis-
ciplinary research, namely, quasi-disciplinary and in-
ter-disciplinary, have close bearing on legal research.
 Quasi-disciplinary legal research enables a legal
scholar to offer more realistic and meaningful policy
and reform-oriented proposals in the area of his in-
quiry.
 However, contribution of a quasi-disciplinary legal re-
search depends upon the depth of scholarship of the
researcher in the field of law as well as in the fields
allied to law.

93
Further, it is bridled with the difficulty of making a
‘right choice’ of ‘allied’ disciplines.
A legal researcher will be confronted with more
than one option.
Nevertheless, the problem will be non-existent for
a legal researcher who has set out his research ob-
jectives in unambiguous terms, formulated his re-
search problem in a precise manner, and clearly
fixed dimensions of his inquiry.
This will help him to be on the ‘right’ path in his
research journey.
94
3. Inter-disciplinary legal research:
Inter-disciplinary legal research is the research done
by a legal scholar in close association with scholars
from other disciplines related with law, such as sociol-
ogy, anthropology, political science, history, philosophy,
psychology, and economics.
It is a sort of concerted or cooperative effort by sev-
eral scholars belonging to different disciplines to inte-
grate their disciplinary insights, and to apply integrated
insight to the study of legal problems.
An inter-disciplinary legal research, compared to
mono-disciplinary and quasi-disciplinary legal research,
leads to better insight into the legal fact under investi-
gation.
95
 It also results into offering more sound and sophisticated so-
lutions to problems than can be suggested with the aid of
mono-disciplinary and quasi-disciplinary legal research.
 However, inter-disciplinary legal research suffers from some
operational difficulties:
1. The question regarding what and how many disciplines
should be combined in the research endeavor may some-
times become difficult to resolve.
 It requires a lot of planning and decision-making.
2. Priorities and interests of research in different disciplines
vary; therefore, the lack of consensus upon the ‘issues to be
resolved’ may create operational difficulties in a cooperative
research.
3. Sometimes it becomes difficult to develop ‘communication’
between the research partners belonging to different disci-
plines.

96
4. Every discipline has its own research tools, tech-
niques and methods.
 They vary from discipline to discipline.
5. A sort of ‘tension’ among the participants may
arise as they proceed with research.
 Each participant, consciously or unconsciously,
may be tempted to see that his discipline domi-
nates the other in the research endeavor.
6. A cooperative legal research requires compatible
habits of the scholars involved therein and a
working atmosphere that puts every one at ease.
97
 UNIT 5: HYPOTHESIS
INTRODUCTION
☂Formulation of hypothesis becomes essential in studies
involving use of empirical research techniques.
☂‘Hypothesis’ is derived from two words: ‘hypo’ means
‘under’, and ‘thesis’ means an ‘idea’ or ‘thought’.
☂Hence, hypothesis means ‘idea’ underlying a statement or
proposition.
☂In fact, the word ‘hypothesis’ is derived from the Greek,
hypo (means under) and tithenas (means to place).
☂It suggests that a statement when it is placed under evi-
dence as a foundation becomes hypothesis.
98
☂ It is a tentative statement of presumed relationship
between two or more concepts or variables.
☂ A hypothesis needs to be formulated in such a way
that one can gather empirical evidence for verifying
or refuting its correctness.
☂ It may prove correct or incorrect.
☂ But in either case, it leads to an empirical test.
☂ Whatever may be the outcome, the hypothesis is a
question put in such a way that an answer of some
kind can be forthcoming.
☂ If a hypothesis is empirically proved, the problem,
which was tentative in the beginning of the research,
is answered.
☂ The statement ceases to be a mere proposition.

99
☂ It becomes a verified fact.
☂ If hypothesis is not proved, the statement, in the ab-
sence of empirical support, merely remains as a
proposition, probably, seeking for validity in future.
☂ Nevertheless, such a disproved hypothesis may lead
to an alternative or additional hypothesis.
☂ A hypothesis need not necessarily be true.
☂ However, it needs to recollect here that hypothesis
needs to be empirically tested.
☂ What a researcher, therefore, has to convince and
ensure himself that he needs to formulate such a
proposition, though tentative, he can work with and
put it to empirical test and that the proposition
guides his research.
100
SOURCES OF HYPOTHESIS:
A few prominent sources of hypothesis are:
1.Hunch or intuition
2.Findings of other
3.A theory or a body of theory
4.General social culture
5.Analogy
6.Personal experience

101
 Hunch or intuition:
♝A hypothesis may be based sim-
ply on hunch or intuition of a per-
son.
♝It is a sort of virgin idea.
♝Such a hypothesis, if tested, may
ultimately make an important con-
tribution to the existing science or
102 body of knowledge.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A WORKABLE HYPOTHESIS
OR USABLE HYPOTHESIS:
❁A ‘workable’ or ‘usable’ hypothesis would be the
one that satisfies many of the following criteria:
1.Hypothesis should be conceptually clear
2.Hypothesis should be specific
3.Hypothesis should be empirically testable
4.Hypothesis should be related to available tech-
niques
5.Hypothesis should be related to a body of theory
or some theoretical orientation
103
ROLE OF HYPOTHESIS:
♠A hypothesis, which is a provisional formulation, plays
significant role in empirical or socio-legal research.
♠It not only navigates research in a proper direction but
also contributes in testing or suggesting theories and
describing a social or legal phenomenon.
Role of hypothesis in navigating research:
A hypothesis, by delimiting the area of research,
keeps a researcher on the right track in his research
journey.
It also helps him in sharpening his thinking and focus-
ing attention on the more important facets of the prob-
lem under investigation.

104
 Without a hypothesis, a socio-legal research or
empirical research becomes ‘unfocused’ and ‘a
random empirical wandering’.
 It prevents a blind search and indiscriminate gather-
ing of masses of data which may later prove irrele-
vant to the problem under study.
 A hypothesis serves as a sound guide to:
1. the kind of data that must be collected in order to
answer the research problem;
2. the way in which the data should be organized most
efficiently and meaningfully, and
3. the type of methods that can be used for making
analysis of the data.
105
Role of ‘tested’ hypothesis:
A hypothesis needs to be empirically tested to
draw some inferences about the initially posited re-
lationship between the variables indicated in the
hypothesis.
Therefore, when it is empirically tested (or not),
the initially assumed relationship between the con-
cepts or variables, as the case may be, becomes a
proved fact.
Once a hypothesis is established, it ceases to be a
hypothesis.
106
 In this sense, a hypothesis also performs the fol-
lowing significant functions:
1. To test theories
2. To suggest new theories
3. To describe social phenomenon
4. To suggest social policy

107
 UNIT 6: RESEARCH DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
The process of research design can be explained by an
analogy of an architect designing a building.
The major research design decisions, which are required to
be taken, are to be in reference to the following aspects:
1.What is the study about?
2.What is the purpose of the study and its scope?
3.What are the types of data required?
4.Where can the data needed data be found and what are
their sources?
5.What will be the place or area of the study?
6.What periods of time will the study include?
108
 7. What time is approximately required for the study?
8. What amount of material or number of cases will be
needed for the study?
9. What bases will be used for the selection of the re-
quired material /cases?
10. What techniques of data gathering will be adopted?
11. What type of sampling, if required, will be used?
12. How will the data be analyzed?
13. How best can all these questions be decided upon and
what should be make so that decisions the research
purpose will be achieved with minimum expenditure
of money, time and energy?

109
 Research design is the plan, structure and strategy of
investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to re-
search questions.
 The ‘plan’ includes everything the investigator will do
from formulating the research problem or the hy-
pothesis to the final analysis of the data and present-
ing his inferences.
 Research design is closely linked to the investigator’s
objectives.
 Research design tells the researcher what observa-
tions to make, how to make them and how to analyze
the quantitative representation of the observations.
 It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, mea-
surement and analysis of data.

110
Research design possesses three important
characteristics:
1. it is a plan that specifies the sources and
types of information relevant to the re-
search problem.
2. it is a strategy specifying which approach
will be used for gathering and analyzing the
data.
3. it includes the time and cost budgets since
most studies are done under these two con-
straints.
111
 MAJOR CONTENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN:
The term ‘research design’ refers to the entire process of planning and
carrying out a research study.
It involves the following major steps:
1.Identification and selection of the research problem.
2.Research problem and its relationship with previous researches.
3.Formulation of hypothesis & its Scope.
4.Design of experiment or inquiry.
5.Definition and measurement of variables.
6.Identification of population for the sampling procedures.
7.Tools and techniques for gathering data.
8.Editing, coding and processing of data.
9.Analysis of data-Selection of appropriate statistical procedures.
10.Reporting-description of research process, Presentation.
112
☨ The broad outline of the design of a research
study may be re-stated in the following main
steps:
1. Formulation of the research problem.
2. Decision on population for Sampling.
3. Tools and techniques for gathering data.
4. Determination on mode of the study.
5. Editing, coding and processing of data.
6. Statistical indices for the analysis of data.
7. Mode of presentation of the research report.
113
☨ These steps can further be grouped into four major stages:
A. Planning Stage,
B. Designing Stage,
C. Operational Stage &
D. Completion Stage.
☨ The planning stage includes the identification, selection and
formulation of research problem as well as the formulation of
hypothesis and its linkage with theory and existing literature.
☨ The design stage consists of drawing up the design of the exper-
iment or inquiry, definition and measurement of variables, sam-
pling procedures, tools and techniques of gathering data.
☨ The operational stage deals with the drawing of the finances
and budgeting, recruitment and training of the staff, if neces-
sary.
☨ The completion stage is concerned with analysis and interpreta-
tion of data.

114
 ROLE OF RESEARCH DESIGN
Advantages of well-Prepared Research Design are:
a.Result in the desired type of study with useful conclu-
sions.
b.Lead to reduced inaccuracy.
c.Give optimum efficiency and reliability.
d.Minimize the uncertainty & confusion.
e.Helpful for the collection of research material & re-
quired data.
f.Operate as a ‘guide post’ for giving research a ‘right di-
rection’.
g.Minimize the wastage of time and beating around the
bush.
115
 UNIT 7: SAMPLING TECHNIQUES: RANDOM AND NON-RAN-
DOM
INTRODUCTION
Sampling and Population: The whole group from which the
sample is drawn is technically known as universe or popula-
tion and the group actually selected for a study is known as
sample.
Population refers to all of the cases.
Since it is usually difficult for any researcher to study the en-
tire universe or the total population (people or things) he/she
proposes to investigate, it becomes incumbent upon him/her
to select a portion of elements taken from the larger portion
or population.
Such a portion is referred as a sample and the process of
drawing these elements from the larger population or uni-
verse is called the sampling method.
116
 Stratification and Sub-Population: Stratification is a
technique of dividing the whole group from which
the sample is drawn/the population into a number of
strata or groups, and thereby those strata is called
Sub-Population.
 Again the reason to adopt these techniques may be
the vastness of population or other difficulties of as-
certaining the universe by taking samples from the
whole population.
 Samples are assumed to represent the total popula-
tion.
 Confidence in the representativeness of a sample is
increased if the population is well defined.

117
MAJOR SAMPLING TECHNIQUES: RANDOM AND NON-RAN-
MDOM:
There are various types of sampling plans which are usually
divided into based on probability/random samples/where
the probability of the selection of each respondent is known/
and on non-probability/non-random samples(where it is not
known).
In probability sampling, statistical inferences about the
population can be made from the responses of the sample.
For this reason, probability sampling is sometimes referred
to as representative sampling.
The sample is taken as representative of the population.
In non-probability samples, you cannot make such statistical
inferences.
118
 A number of methods are used for drawing sam-
ples, and they can be grouped into the following:
1. Simple Random Sampling;
2. Purposive Sampling;
3. Stratified Sampling:
4. Quota Sampling;
5. Multistage Sampling;
6. Convenience Sampling; and
7. Self Selecting Sampling.
 These methods are categorized into the two
broad classifications of sampling techniques.

119
Probability/Random Sampling Techniques:
As to the size of a sample, while probability samples
allow you to generalize from sample to population,
such generalizations are themselves probabilistic.
The larger the sample, the lower the likely error in
generalizing may be.
Probability Samples are classified into the following
five types of sampling methods:
1.Simple Random Sampling
2.Systematic Sampling
3.Stratified Random Sampling
4.Cluster/Area Sampling
5.Multistage Sampling
120
 1. Simple Random Sampling:
 This involves selection at random from the sam-
pling frame of the required number of persons for
the sample.
 It gives each person an equal chance of being in-
cluded in the sample.
 It makes all possible combination of persons for a
particular sample size equally.
 It is more suitable in more homogeneous and
comparatively larger groups.
 A random sample can be drawn either by lottery
method or by using Tipett’s number or by grid
system or by selecting from sequential list.
121
 2. Systematic Sampling:
This involves choosing a starting point in the sampling
frame at random, and then choosing every Nth person.
Thus if a sample of 50 is required from a population of
2,000, then every 40th person is chosen.
The problem of simple random and systematic sampling
is, that both require a full list of the population, and get-
ting this list is often difficult.

3. Stratified Random Sampling:

This involves dividing the universe or population into a
number of groups or strata, where members of a group
share a particular characteristic or characteristics(e.g.
stratum A may be females; stratum B males).
There is then random sampling within the strata.

122
 It is usual to have proportionate sampling.
It may sometimes be helpful to have dis-propor-
tionate sampling, where there is an unequal
weighting.
It is possible to combine stratification with sys-
tematic sampling procedures.
It is the combination of both random sampling
and purposive selection.
In the selection of strata, we use purposive selec-
tion method, but in selecting actual units from
each stratum, random method is used.
123
 4. Cluster/Area Sampling:
This involves dividing the population into a number of
units, or clusters, each of which contains individuals having
a range of characteristics.
The clusters themselves are chosen on a random basis.
The subpopulation within the cluster is then chosen.
This tactic is particularly useful when a population is
widely dispersed and large, requiring a great deal of effort
and travel to get the survey information.
An example might involve school children, where there is
initially random sampling of a number of schools, and then
testing of all the pupils in each school.
This method has the valuable feature that it can be used
when the sampling frame is not known (e.g. when we do
not have full list of children in the population, in the above
example).
124
 5. Multistage Sampling:
oThis is an extension of cluster sampling.
oThis method is generally used in selecting a sample from a very
large area.
oIt involves selecting the sample in stages, i.e. taking samples from
samples.
oThus one might take a random sample of schools, then a random
sample of the classes within each of the schools, and then from with
in selected classes choose a sample of children.
oAs with cluster sampling, this provides a means of generating a geo-
graphically concentrated sampling.
oIt is also possible to incorporate stratification into both cluster and
multistage sampling.
oJudging the relative efficiencies of these more complicated forms of
sampling, and their relationship to the efficiency of simple random
sampling, is difficult, and if you are expending considerable resources
on a survey it is worth seeking expert advice.

125
 Non-Probability/Non-Random Sampling Techniques:
In probability sampling it is possible to specify the probabil-
ity that any person (or other unit on which the survey is
based) will be included in the sample.
Any sampling plan where it is not possible to do this is called
'non-probability sampling`.
Small-scale surveys commonly employ non-probability
samples.
They are usually less complicated to set up and are accept-
able when there is no intention or need to make a statistical
generalization to any population beyond the sample sur-
veyed.
They typically involve the researcher using his judgment to
achieve a particular purpose, and for this reason are some-
times referred to as purposive samples.
Their accuracy relies greatly on the skill and experience of
those involved.
126
♥ The types of Non-Probability Sampling methods are presented
as follows:
1. Quota Sampling: Here the strategy is to obtain representative of
the various elements of a population, usually in the relative
proportions in which they occur in the population.
 Quota sampling is a special form of stratified sampling.
 According to this method, the universe is first divided into dif-
ferent strata.
 Then the number to be selected from each stratum is decided.
 This number is known as quota.
2. Dimensional Sampling: It is an extension of quota sampling.
 The various dimensions thought to be of importance in a survey
are incorporated into the sampling procedure in such a way that
at least one representative of every possible combination of
these factors or dimension is included.

127
3. Convenience Sampling: It involves choosing the
nearest and almost convenient persons to act as re-
spondents.
 The process continues until the required sample size
is reached.
 It is sometimes used as a cheap and dirty way of do-
ing a sample survey.
 You do not know whether or not findings are repre-
sentative.
 This is probably one of the most widely used and
least satisfactory methods of sampling.
 This method is generally known as unsystematic,
careless, accidental or opportunistic sampling.
128
  According to this system, a sample is selected
according to convenience of the field workers
or researchers.
 The convenience may be in respect of availabil-
ity of source list and accessibility of the units.
 It is used when universe or population is not
clearly defined, sampling unit is not clear or a
complete source list is not available.

129
4. Purposive Sampling: The principle of selection in
purposive sampling is the researcher’s judgment as
to typicality or interest.
 A sample is built up which enables the researcher to
satisfy his/her specific needs in a research project.
 Accordingly, when the researcher deliberately or
purposively selects certain units for study from the
population it is known as purposive selection.
 In this type of selection the choice of the selector is
supreme and nothing is left to chance.
 It is more useful especially when some of the units
are very important and, in the opinion of the re-
searcher, must be included in the sample.

130
Merits of Purposive Sampling:
1.A small sample can be representative.
2.The researcher has the final say on the election.
Demerits of Purposive Sampling:
3.The selection is biased and prejudiced.
4.The results drawn are unscientific and inaccurate.
5. Snowball Sampling: Here the researcher identifies one or
more individuals from the population of interest (for e.g. se-
lecting a few judges, prosecutors or advocates for interview in
conducting research on effectiveness and efficiency of the
Federal judiciary system).
•After they have been interviewed, they are used as infor-
mants to identify other members of the population, who are
themselves used as informants, and so on.
131
 • Snowball sampling is useful when there is diffi-
culty in identifying members of the population,
e.g. when this is a clandestine group.
• It can be seen as a particular type of purposive
sample.
• Both approaches tend to be used in field work
types of research, particularly in case studies
and where participant observation is involved.

132
 UNIT 8: BASIC TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION
Introduction
The heart of any research design is the collection of data.
There are two sources of data: the primary and the sec-
ondary.
The primary data is collected mainly through questionnaire
and interview schedule.
Basic Tools of Data Collection are:
i.Interview,
ii.Interview Schedule,
iii.Questionnaire,
iv.Observation:
Participant observation,
Non-participant observation.
133
♥ In primary data , the data is directly collected from
the respondent.
♥ Whereas in secondary data the main source is pub-
lished and unpublished material-As well it is called
Library research.

INTERVIEW:
 Interviewing typically involves you, as researcher, ask-
ing questions, and hopefully, receiving answers from
the people you are interviewing.
 It is very widely used in social research including the
legal research.
 There are many types of interview.
134
Types of Interview:
1.Fully Structured Interview-has predetermined questions with fixed word-
ing, usually in a pre-set order.
2.Semi-Structured Interview-It has predetermined questions, but the order
can be modified based upon the interviewer’s perception of what seems
most appropriate.
•Question wording can be changed and explanations given.
•Particular questions which seem inappropriate with a particular intervie-
wee can be omitted, or additional ones included.
3. Unstructured Interview-The interviewer has a general area of interest
and concern, but lets the conversation develop within this area.
It can be completely informal.
Both the questions asked and responses given are left flexible and open.
Semi structured and unstructured interviews are widely used in flexible,
qualitative designs and they are referred as qualitative research interviews.

135
General Advice for Interviewers:
As an interviewer you should:
1.Listen more than you speak;
2.Put questions in a straight forward, clear
and non-threatening way;
3.Eliminate cues which lead interviewees to
respond in a particular way;
4.Enjoy it-Do not give the message that you
are bored or scared.

136
The Items/Questions of Interviews:
Three main types are used in research interviews:
1.Closed/Fixed-alternative,
2.Open and
3.scale items.
Closed questions/fixed-alternative force the intervie-
wee to choose from two or more fixed alternatives.
Open questions provide no restrictions on the content
or manner of the reply other than on the subject area.
Scale items ask for a response in the form of degree of
agreement or disagreement.

137
 The advantages of open-ended questions are:
 Flexibility;
 Allow you to go into more depth or clear up any
misunderstandings;
 Enable testing of the limits of a respondent’s
knowledge;
 Encourage co-operation and rapport;
 Allow you to make a truer assessment of what the
respondent really believes;
 can produce unexpected or unanticipated an-
swers.
138
Questions To Be Avoided in Interviews are:
In conducting interview the interviewer should
avoid the following forms of questions:
Long questions-The interviewee may remember
only part of the question, and respond to that
part.
Double barreled(multiple-barreled) questions.
Questions involving Jargon.
Leading questions.
Biased questions.

139
The Sequence of Questions in Interview:
☞A commonly used sequence is as follows:
1.Introduction- Interviewer introduces himself/herself,
explains purpose of the interview, assures of confiden-
tiality, and asks permission to tape and/or make notes.
2.‘Warm-up’-Easy, non-threatening questions at the be-
ginning to settle down both of you.
3.Main body of interview-covering the main purpose of
the interview in what the interviewer considers to be a
logical progression.
4.‘Cool-off’-Usually a few straight forward questions at
the end to defuse any tension that might have built up.
5.Closure-Thank you and goodbye.

140
 Interview may be conducted with face-to-face inter-
viewing, telephone interviewing and in this comput-
erization age even through electronic (e-mail) com-
munication.

Advantages of Interviews:
 The interview is a flexible and adaptable way of find-
ing things out.
 Face to face interviews offer the possibility of modify-
ing one’s line of enquiry, following up responses and
investigating underlying motives in a way that postal
and self-administered questionnaires cannot.
 It has the potential of providing rich and highly illuminating
material.

141
Disadvantages of Interviews:
Time Consuming,
Requires careful preparation.

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE:
Interviewing itself is an art, but the planning and
writing of an interview schedule is all the more so.
The purpose of a schedule is to provide a standard-
ized tool for observation or for interview in order to
attain objectivity.

142
 By schedule every informant has to reply the
same question put in the same language and the
researcher has no choice to get the desired reply
by putting a different question or changing the
language of the same question.
 The order of the questions is also the same and
thus the whole interview takes place under stan-
dardized conditions and the data received is easily
comparable.
 The other purpose of schedule is to facilitate the
work of tabulation and analysis.
 In fact, the questions are formed while keeping
the tabulation plan in mind.
143
SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES:
What is Survey?
Survey research entails the collection of data on a number of
units and usually at a single juncture in time, with a view to col-
lecting systematically a body of quantifiable data in respect of a
number of variables which are then examined to discern pat-
terns of association.

QUESTIONNAIRE:
It refers to a set of questions that a lot of people are asked as
way of getting information about what people think or do gen-
erally.
The questions are usually systematically written and printed on
papers.
144
 Most kinds of researches including legal research
method involve the use of a questionnaire as the ba-
sic approach to fact or information collection.
 Most surveys also involve use of a questionnaire as
the basic approach to survey data collection.
 There are three major ways in which questionnaire is
administered:
1. Self-completion-Respondents fill in the answers by
themselves.
2. Face-to-face interview- An interviewer asks the ques-
tions in the presence of the respondent, and also
completes the questionnaire.
3. Telephone interview- The interviewer contacts re-
spondents by phone, asks the questions and records
the responses.
145
OBSERVATIONAL METHODS:
Fundamentally different approaches to the use of observa-
tion methods in enquiry have been employed.
Two popular extreme types are: participant observation/
Non-Structured and Non-Participant/structured observation.
Participant observation is an essentially qualitative style
which has been used in variety of disciplines including in the
legal profession.
Participant observation is a widely used method in flexible
designs, particularly those which follow an ethnographic ap-
proach.
Structured observation is almost exclusively linked to fixed
designs of both experimental and non-experimental types.

146
 Approaches to Observation-Classifying Observational Meth-
ods:
One important dimension of the difference in approaches
to observation is the degree of pre-structure in the observa-
tion exercise.
This can be dichotomized as formal or informal observation.
Informal approaches are less structured and allow the ob-
server considerable freedom in the information gathered and
how it is recorded.
They would include note taking and generally gathering in-
formation from informants.
Formal approaches impose a large amount of structure and
direction on what is to be observed.
The observer has only to attend to these pre-specified as-
pects; everything else is considered irrelevant for the pur-
poses of the study.
147
 The classes of observational methods in both dimensions will be dis-
cussed as follow:
1. Participant observation- A key feature of participant observation is that
the observer seeks to become some kind of a member of the observed
group.
 This involves not only a physical presence and a sharing of life experi-
ences but also entry into their social and ‘symbolic’ world through learn-
ing their social conventions and habits, their use of language and non
verbal communication, and so on.
 The observer also has to establish some role within the group.
 The primary data are the interpretations by the observer of what is going
on around him.
 The observer is the research instrument, and hence great sensitivity and
personal skills are called for if worthwhile data are to be collected.
 Participant observation might be useful in a small project: with small
groups, for events or processes that take a reasonably short time , for
frequent events.

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2. The complete participant-The complete participant
role involves the observer concealing that s/he is an
observer, acting as naturally as possible and seeking
to become a full member of the group.
3. The participant as observer-It is a feasible alternative
to have the participant as observer role.
 The fact that the observer is an observer is made
clear to the group from the start.
 The observer then tries to establish close relation-
ships with members of the group.
 This stance means that as well as observing through
participating in activities, the observer can ask mem-
bers to explain various aspects of what is going on.

149
  It is important to get the trust of key members of the
group.
 It would appear that this role would have more of dis-
turbing effect on the phenomena observed than that of
the complete participant, and several, experienced par-
ticipant observers have documented this.
 How ever, one effect may be that members of the group
are led to more analytical reflection about processes and
other aspects of the group’s functioning.
4. The Marginal Participant-In some situations it may be
feasible and advantageous to have lower degree of par-
ticipation than that envisaged in the preceding sections.
 This can be done by adopting the role of a larger passive,
though completely accepted, participant- a passenger in
a train or bus, or a member of the audience at a concert
or sports meeting.
150
5. The observer as participant-This is some one
who takes no part in the activity but whose sta-
tus as researcher is known to the participants.
• Such a state is aspired to by many researchers
using systematic observation.
• However, it is questionable whether any one
who is known to be a researcher can be said not
to take part in the activity-in the sense that their
role is now one of the roles within the larger
group that includes the researcher.

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 UNIT 9: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Doctrinal Legal Research
Law is a normative science which lays down norms and standards for
human behavior in a specified situation enforceable through the sanc-
tion of the state.
What distinguishes law from other social sciences is its normative
character.
On the other side, law is a social science on account of the simple fact
that it regulates human conduct and relationship.
This fact along with the fact that stability and certainty of law are de-
sirable goals and social values to be pursued, make doctrinal research to
be of primary concern to a legal researcher.
Doctrinal research involves analysis of case law, arranging, ordering
and systematizing legal propositions, and study of legal institutions, but
it does more-it creates law and its major tool(but not only tool) to do so
is through legal reasoning or rational deduction.
152
 Most of doctrinal legal research has characteristics of ad-
dressing a limited audience-the members of the legal pro-
fession (judges, lawyers, advocates and prosecutors).
 And it is meant to assist them in the discharge of their day
to day professional tasks.
 The researcher explains the relevant judicial concepts,
analyses statutory provisions, picks out judicial dicta, for-
mulates principles deducible from judicial decisions, and
arranges the whole material in some logical order.
 An American jurist (Justice Holmes) stated that: the life of
law has not been logic: it has been experience.
 This proves the significance of doctrinal legal research in
the task of legal profession.
 A few outstanding examples for doctrinal research are car-
rying out legal research on: Family law, Succession law,
child rights, law of torts, labor law, administrative law,
etc.
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A General Approach to Legal Research:
A general approach to legal research
can be broken down into four basic steps.
These steps are:
1.Identifying/Gathering facts,
2.Analyzing Facts,
3.Formulating Legal issues and
4.Doing the Legal Research.

154
1. Identifying/Gathering Facts: Facts are the bases for a legal
research.
 Without facts, conducting legal research does not give
much sense.
 Legal research does not occur in a factual vacuum.
 The purpose of researching in law is to ascertain the legal
consequences of a specific set of actual or potential facts.
2. Analyzing Facts: once you have identified and gathered
your facts, you are ready to analyze them to determine the
legal issues you need to research.
 This analysis involves thinking of words that describe the
various aspects or characteristics of your problem, organiz-
ing the facts and shaping them.

155
  The important suggested system for gathering
the elements of analysis of facts common to
all legal problems are:
1. Analyzing parties or persons involved in a case
under investigation.
2. Places where the facts arose and objects and
things involved.
3. Basis of the case or issue involved.
4. Defense or opposite argument to the action or
issue.
5. Relief or solution sought.
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 UNIT 10: WRITING A RESEARCH REPORT
INTRODUCTION
The researcher has to prepare the report of what has
been done by him.
The writing of report must be done with great care.
The layout of the report should be as follows:
1.The preliminary pages,
2.The main text and
3.The end matter.
The rule of bibliography is system of providing in-
formation about our references.
157
 Bibliography has 3 basic sections, which are:
 Table of laws,
 Table of cases and
 Other bibliographic materials.

Content and Form of Citations:

1. Books: The first reference to a book should contain the following infor-
mation in the following order:
I. Author’s name;
II. Title (underlined or in italics);
III. Edition number, if there has been more than one edition (in parenthesis);
IV. Year of publication of that edition (in parenthesis);
V. Number of the volume referred to, if the work has more than one vol-
ume;
VI. Section, article, number, page, etc. referred to, as appropriate

158
A. Title: The full title should be given, without abbreviation, however,
if the title is given in a bibliography and can be shortened conve-
niently without creating ambiguity, a short from may be used.
 A short form may also be used when there is no bibliography, if on
a page at the beginning of the paper a list is made in regular foot-
note form of the books that will be cited in the short form, and a
statement made to that effect.
 Short forms are only used, if at all, for major works cited many
times in a paper.
 It is not necessary to give sub-titles; however, if a sub-title is used,
it should be made part of the underlined title, but separated from
it by a dash.
 In English titles, the first letter of the first word and every impor-
tant word there after (including all nouns, adjectives, adverbs and
names) must be capitalized.
 In Amharic titles and titles of other languages translated into Eng-
lish, follow the same principles of capitalization as in English titles.

159
B. Edition Number: If there has been only one edi-
tion, do not state an edition number.
 If there have been several editions, identify the
edition referred to by the identification used by
the publisher; this will usually be a number.
 Note that an edition is different from a "reprint"
"imprint" or "printing".
 A new edition usually involves revisions of, or ad-
ditions to, the text-Reprints, imprints, and print-
ings do not involve revisions or additions; the
original text is merely printed again.
 Reprints, imprints and printings are irrelevant and
should not be mentioned.
160
C. Date of Publication; Other Facts of Publication:
 If there has been more than one edition, the data of
publication to be given is only that of the edition
cited.
 As with the edition number, dates of reprints, im-
prints or printings are not to be given.
 The date of publication appears in parentheses; if an
edition number is cited, it appears after the edition
number within the same parentheses.
 In some sets of more than one volume, different vol-
umes are published in different years.
 In this case, the date of publication should be the
date of publication of the volume referred to.
161
D. Number of Volumes:
 Volume numbers should be given in Arabic numerals (that is,
1,2, 3, etc.) whether or not they are given in Roman numerals
(that is, I, II, III, etc.) in the book referred to.
 The abbreviation of “volume” (Vol; Vols) should be used.

E. Section, Article, etc.:

 When reference is made to a section, article, number, chapter,
or page, the same numbering or lettering should be used as in
the book referred to.
 Usually, it is only necessary to refer to a particular page or
pages.
 Sometimes, however, it is more helpful to the reader to refer to
a particular article, section, number, or chapter or, it may be
helpful to refer to more than one of these.
 The matter is within the writer’s discretion.
 The appropriate abbreviations should be used.
162
 2. Articles in Scholarly Magazines and Journals:
The first reference to an article in a scholarly magazine or
journal should contain, in the following order:
1.Name of article’s author;
2.Title of article ( in quotation marks);
3.Name of the magazine or journal (underlined or in italics);
4.Volume number;
5.Number of the part or issue, if the pages in each part or is-
sue are numbered separately or if a reference to the number
is necessary or convenient to a proper identification of the lo-
cation of the article;
6.Date of publication (in parentheses);
7.Page or pages where the specific reference may be found.

163
3. Newspapers and News Magazines:
 Reference to an article in a newspaper or news magazine
should contain, in the following order:
A. Name of the newspaper or magazine (underlined);
B. Date of the newspaper or magazine referred to;
C. Page where the specific reference may be found;
D. Column where the specific reference may be found, if more
than one column on the page.
Example: The Ethiopian Herald, May 20, 1965, p.3.col.2.
 Name: The name of a newspaper or magazine may be silent or
ambiguous as to the place where it comes to or is published.
 In this case, put the name of the city or country in parentheses af-
ter the name of the newspaper or magazine, but before the date.
Example: The Times (London), April 15, 1965, p.10, col.5.
164
4. Judicial Decisions:
 The form specified below should be used for administrative decisions
of a judicial nature.
 The first reference to a judicial decisions should contain the following
information, in the following order:
1. Case Name;
2. Case number; (in parenthesis ) i.e. number if the case is not published
(in parenthesis);
3. Court (in parenthesis);
4. Jurisdiction of the court, if other than Ethiopia (in parenthesis);
5. Date of decision ( in parenthesis);
6. Name of reporter or journal where found (underlined or in italics);
7. Volume of reporter or journal where found;
8. Page where specific reference may be found.
Example: Gorfe G/Hiwot v. Aberash Dubarge and Getachew Nega (Federal
Supreme Court Cassation Division, 2007), Mizan Law Review, vol. 1
No.1.p.182.

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