By Marie Elske Gispen, University of Groningen | m.e.c.gispen@rug.nl

Empirical research methods are increasingly used in international legal studies and the importance of doing so is being more and more acknowledged. This development, however, may come with difficulties at both institutional and practical levels.

Institutional challenges to using empirical research methods in legal research

Institutional challenges include the fact that law schools traditionally educate their students in the use of legal methods, leaving future legal scholars often without the necessary toolkit to employ empirical methods (provided that they did not receive any other education in this field). Continue reading →