Law in Action

Get introduced to different empirical methods as used in law. Take a look at the video to learn more.

Wondering how one can research the motives of criminals like Taghi; the reasons why the judges in Rosmalen flat murdercase and the Petten camping murderwrongfully convicted suspects; or how to test the effect of subtle changes to our environments (e.g., nudges) on our (legal) behaviour?

In this minor, you'll explore empirical research methods from fields like sociology, economics, and psychology and learn how these techniques are applied in legal contexts.

Take a look at the video and learn more about this minor.

Why Empirical Legal Studies (ELS)?
The law sets different rules which are intended to guide people’s behaviour and structure our society. In law schools, students learn about the origin of these rules and their interpretation. But how can we research the “law in action”?

Whether analyzing judicial behavior, policy effectiveness, or the impact of legal reforms, ELS provides powerful insights into real-world legal issues. In this minor you will learn how to interpret this type of research and conduct such research yourself. This knowledge and skills are essential for any professional working in the legal field.

What Will You Learn?

1. Qualitative Methods : Interviews, focus groups, and field research to understand how individuals and communities experience law.

2. Quantitative-Experimental Methods : Experimental designs to test the operation of laws and legal institutions.

3. Quantitative-Observational Methods : Analyze large datasets to explore trends and causal relationships in legal contexts.

This course is ideal for law and social science students who are passionate about understanding and applying empirical insights in the legal domain to enable data-driven decision-making, legal reform, and reach real policy impact.

• Understand the relevance and importance of empirical methods to law and policy.
• Formulate empirical legal research questions.
• Describe which empirical methods are available to answer these questions.
• Understand the different empirical methods
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of these methods.
• Critically evaluate empirical findings.
• Understand how empirical methods can be applied in legal practice.
• Pinpoint how policy makers today apply empirical research in policy making at the national and international level.
• Design your own empirical study.

• Course language: English.
• Suitable for law students and social sciences students.
• No prior knowledge in law, methodology or statistics is required.
• Aside from lectures, this course will include group work and class presentations to deepen the understanding of what empirical legal methods are and how they can be applied.
• Students will have an opportunity to meet experts from public institutions and learn how they apply empirical methods to policy-making.
• Open for students who attended the Empirical Legal Studies course in Bachelor 1, but also those without any prior experience.
• Suitable for part time students.
• Taught fully on campus, but we will try to accommodate the needs of part time students.
• Lecture attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended. Participation in the evaluation and seminar days, as well as the guest lecture is mandatory.

Teaching methods

• Interactive lectures - bring the knowledge to the students.
• Guest lectures by experts – understand the practical usefulness of the field/method.
• Group work with feedback from the lecturers - teamwork and application of studied insights.
• Individual presentations and peer feedback – apply independently the studies skills; develop own ideas; develop presentation skills; develop critical thinking.
• Self and group study – reading materials to prepare for classes and meetings.

Teaching material

• Presentation slides
• Academic literature (textbooks and articles)

Method of examination
The method of examination in this minor will consists of 2 parts, in order to give due weight to all the elements of the course.
• 1 Individual project of your own research design
• 1 Final exam.

Composition final grade
The final grade consists of 2 parts.

• Individual project: 40%.
• Final exam: 60%.

To pass the course, the total grade should not be below 5.5.