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The Plural of Anecdote is not Data: Teaching Law Students to Conduct Empirical Research on Behalf of Community Partners Faith Mullen The Catholic University of America
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It would be dreadful... if it were true The request The rebuttal The research* *see note pages
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Good reasons to teach research to law students: Give students new tools for problem solving Help students become better consumers of data Strengthen community partnerships Good class, clinic, independent study, or pro bono project Promote change Teach policy* *see note
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Right now: Select a topic It would be dreadful, if it were true A law, regulation, or policy is not followed A rule has a harsh effect on one person or group Someone fails to meet an obligation A need goes unmet
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The Most Important Thing Find the “right-sized” research project
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Questions to ask: Who knows what? – Statutes and regulations – Published reports – Literature reviews – Informational interviews
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Questions to ask: Can you get your hands on the data? – Does it exist? – Can you have it? – Is there an easier way to get it?
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Questions to ask: Are there any hoops to jump through? Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Institutional Review Board (IRB )* *see note pages
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Questions to ask: How many students will work on the project? What background do they need to have? Will they all have the same role? Should you name a student as project manager?
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Questions to ask: How much time do you have? – Academic calendar – How long it will take – The needs of community partners – The shelf-life of the topic
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Things to think about: Choose your methodology – Quantitative or Qualitative?* – Can it be counted? “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” - William Bruce Cameron (sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein * see notes
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Things to think about: Two key concepts – Reliability (reproducibility) – Validity (measure reflects the underlying concept)
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Things to think about: Surveys will be trouble – Don’t use surveys when “revealed preferences” are available – Craft questions carefully – How you ask question is as important as what you ask – Think about tomorrow when you draft questions today – Limit the number of questions – Limit open-ended questions – Ask for help
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Things to think about: Reporting your results – Formal or informal? – Find a format – Brand your product – Create an executive summary
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Things to think about: Research is dynamic – Not like baking – Make explicit choices – If data not adding up, stop and reevaluate
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Things to think about: Keep moving parts to a minimum – Variables – Sources of data – Scope of research – Stakeholders
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Things to think about: Learn from my mistakes – Write up methodology as you go – Conduct a pre-test (but exclude results) – Be at peace with making choices (just be transparent) – Practice with students how to conduct research – Realize it will take longer than you think
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