This workshop will be held on Sunday, January 4, from 2:00-5:00 p.m. through Monday, January 5, from 9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. There is an additional registration fee of $90 to attend this program, which includes a box lunch on Monday. Attendance at Sunday afternoon’s program provides an important foundation for Monday’s program.
The workshop provides an overview of qualitative and mixed research methods. Within "mixed" we include research that combines qualitative, quantitative and/or experimental methods to study law. No background in social science is required. The goals of the workshop are: 1) To provide guidance for law professors interested in drawing on qualitative, survey research and/or experimental social science studies pertinent to their research on law; and 2) To support law professors who seek to augment their scholarship by using interviews, observation, historical data, language analysis, or mixed methods. This year's workshop will have a particular emphasis on designing and performing interview studies.
The workshop is divided into four sessions: (1) an introductory session that covers how to define a research question and how to match a research question to an appropriate set of methods (this includes quantitative and experimental methods as well as qualitative methods) (3 hours); (2) a working lunch session during which speakers will address specific methodological issues that arise in ethnography, survey design, language analysis, and historical research (1 hour); (3) a session explaining how to design and carry out interview studies, with some accompanying discussion of case studies and ethnographic research (3 hours); and (4) a final session during which workshop faculty will discuss issues involved in analysis and write-up of qualitative research, along with time devoted to questions raised by this year's workshop participants (3 hours). Participants are not required to have any specific equipment or preparation.
Session I: Introduction - Getting Started with Qualitative Research
How do researchers formulate a specific question that is answerable empirically? How does one identify an appropriate method for answering any given particular research question? And how can we combine different kinds of methods for studying the law as it works in action? This session introduces a variety of research methods and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses for answering different kinds of research questions. The session will also compare approaches in terms of their assumptions, objectives, types of data collected, and use of theory. We will draw on a wide range of empirical studies of law and decision making by legal actors. Particular attention will be given to qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, language analysis, historical analysis, and survey design, and to combining methods - including quantitative and experimental approaches.
Session II. Designing and Carrying Out Qualitative Research (with special emphasis on Interview Studies)
In this panel, speakers discuss how to go about selecting subjects for interview studies, how to obtain access (including IRB issues), how to design and conduct interviews, and how interview studies compare with other qualitative research such as case studies or ethnographic research.
Box Lunch with Panel Discussion of Ethnography, Survey Design, Language Analysis, and Historical Research
This session will focus on ethnography, language analysis, and historical research.
Session III. Qualitative Research Analysis and Write-Up; Audience Questions and Discussion
Once you've completed your interviews, what then? The first half of this session provides an overview of different forms of qualitative analysis, including software for analysis of text. It also covers issues involved in analyzing and presenting qualitative data, and how to draw on multiple studies to "triangulate" findings. During the second half of the session, we will have an interactive session in which participants can ask questions related to their own research interests and agendas.