Comments on: Qualitative Empirical Legal Research http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:18:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Natasha Vita-More http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html/comment-page-1#comment-60359 Natasha Vita-More Sun, 28 May 2006 22:23:39 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/02/qualitative-empirical-legal-research.html#comment-60359 The question has not been answered. The question has not been answered.

]]> By: ur_land http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html/comment-page-1#comment-60358 ur_land Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:58:35 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/02/qualitative-empirical-legal-research.html#comment-60358 Frank: I'm not sure how that economist article that you cite argues against the "current quantification craze." If anything, I read it to be arguing that economists need to do more and better quantifying of national economic well-being. This isn't a qual/quant issue--this is a measurment issue. Social scientists would call is an issue of construct validity--whether your variable (GDP) adequately measuring your construct (national economic well being. Frank: I’m not sure how that economist article that you cite argues against the “current quantification craze.” If anything, I read it to be arguing that economists need to do more and better quantifying of national economic well-being. This isn’t a qual/quant issue–this is a measurment issue. Social scientists would call is an issue of construct validity–whether your variable (GDP) adequately measuring your construct (national economic well being.

]]> By: Frank http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html/comment-page-1#comment-60357 Frank Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:49:54 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/02/qualitative-empirical-legal-research.html#comment-60357 Thank you for this great post! I was just reading C. Wright Mills's essay Abstracted Empiricism and thinking along the same lines. I'm thinking about writing a piece called Law as/and Interpretive Social Science, which would aim not only to recognize the important place of qualitative research in law, but also to question our habitual assumption that value-neutrality is the hallmark of useful social science. It strikes me that people like Ricoeur, Geertz, Bellah, etc. have very important things to say to law that are lost in the shuffle of more numbers-based work. But I've got to re-read Eskridge's Gadamer/Statutory Interpretation before going further, though. For a very nice brief against one current quantification craze, see http://www.economist.com/finance/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=5504103 Finally, if you like philosophy of social science, www.politicaltheory.info has links to a great set of pieces on unification in social natural sciences in its right column. Thank you for this great post! I was just reading C. Wright Mills’s essay Abstracted Empiricism and thinking along the same lines.

I’m thinking about writing a piece called Law as/and Interpretive Social Science, which would aim not only to recognize the important place of qualitative research in law, but also to question our habitual assumption that value-neutrality is the hallmark of useful social science. It strikes me that people like Ricoeur, Geertz, Bellah, etc. have very important things to say to law that are lost in the shuffle of more numbers-based work. But I’ve got to re-read Eskridge’s Gadamer/Statutory Interpretation before going further, though.

For a very nice brief against one current quantification craze, see

http://www.economist.com/finance/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=5504103

Finally, if you like philosophy of social science, http://www.politicaltheory.info has links to a great set of pieces on unification in social natural sciences in its right column.

]]> By: Matt http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html/comment-page-1#comment-60356 Matt Tue, 21 Feb 2006 02:44:42 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/02/qualitative-empirical-legal-research.html#comment-60356 In disciplines like Sociology, at least, qualitiative work usually means something like case studies, in-depth interviews with a fairly limited number of subjects, and things like that. _Tally's Corner_ by Elliot Liebow is a classic example. In disciplines like Sociology, at least, qualitiative work usually means something like case studies, in-depth interviews with a fairly limited number of subjects, and things like that. _Tally’s Corner_ by Elliot Liebow is a classic example.

]]> By: uneducated student http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/02/qualitative_emp.html/comment-page-1#comment-60355 uneducated student Tue, 21 Feb 2006 01:59:11 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/02/qualitative-empirical-legal-research.html#comment-60355 What is qualitative empirical work? What is qualitative empirical work?

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