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LAW3637: LAW IN CONTEXT: METHODS AND SUBSTANCE

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Type Open
Level 3
Credits 10
Availability Not available in 2024/2025
Module Cap
Location Durham
Department Law

Prerequisites

  • Introduction to English Law and Legal Method (LAW 1121) (at the discretion of the Chair of the Board of Studies or delegate, a suitable module from another Department may be substituted for the Law pre-requisite(s)).

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • Introduce students to core features of socio-legal research and provide core guidance on how to conduct empirical legal scholarship.

Content

  • What is socio-legal research?
  • Research design and ethics
  • Introduction to research methods
  • Research-led examples of socio-legal scholarship

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Evaluate the nature of socio-legal research and its role in understanding the law.
  • Critically analyse the role of empirical research in conducting legal scholarship.
  • Explain the importance of conducting research in an ethically sensitive manner and critically assess potential ethical issues that might arise in a research project.
  • Critically assess the nature of qualitative and quantitative research methods and their use in addressing research problems.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • Assess the role of socio-legal research in understanding and explaining a legal issue.
  • Apply different methodological approaches to address particular socio-legal questions
  • Design a research project based on a scenario.

Key Skills:

  • Research and writing skills, including the ability to work independently and to take responsibility for their own learning.
  • Engage in critical reading of legal, academic, and methodological texts.
  • Apply knowledge to complex situations, recognise potential alternative conclusions for particular situations, and provide supporting reasons for them.
  • Communicate complex ideas in writing.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • The course will be taught as a series of six topics, with each topic consisting of one two-hour seminar. Seminar worksheets will be provided in advance of each seminar to encourage students to engage in pre-session reading and preparation. The reading will be selected to enhance students capacity for evaluation and critical analysis. Seminars will allow students to develop their own ideas and perspectives through engagement in in-depth discussion of each topic.
  • The assessment will take the form of one 2000-word summative assessment: a research proposal. Students will be provided with a research brief and will need to create a research proposal to address the research problem outlined in the brief. Students will be provided with a template to assist them in producing their answer. In creating the research proposal, students will be required to set out the key issues and research questions they wish to address, and the methodology or methodologies they would use.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Seminars6Normally six seminars in the first 6 weeks of Michaelmas Term2 hours12 
Preparation and reading88 
TOTAL100 

Summative Assessment

Component: Law Reform ProposalComponent Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Research proposal2000 words100N

Formative Assessment

Optional 500 word analysis of a research study or annotated bibliography

More information

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