Making Law and Courts Research Relevant
The Normative Implications of Empirical Research
Brandon L Bartels editor Chris W Bonneau editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:18th Sep '14
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£47.99(9781138021921)
This book explores how empirical research in law can be made more relevant to wider audiences, enhancing its normative implications and impact.
One of the enduring challenges for scholars focused on law, courts, and political science is bridging the gap between academic research and broader societal relevance. In Making Law and Courts Research Relevant, Brandon L. Bartels and Chris W. Bonneau delve into this issue, emphasizing the importance of integrating normative implications into empirical work. They argue that recognizing these implications not only enriches the quality of research but also engages a wider audience, including practitioners outside of academia.
The authors propose a methodology for effectively communicating the normative aspects of empirical research, ensuring that the findings resonate with both academic and non-academic audiences. The book is structured into four sections, addressing the development of normative implications, the relationship between law and decision-making, judicial selection processes, and the role of courts within the broader political and societal context. Each chapter offers insights from scholars across political science, law, and sociology, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
Ultimately, Making Law and Courts Research Relevant serves as a catalyst for dialogue about enhancing the visibility and applicability of empirical research in law and courts. It is particularly valuable for scholars and students of judicial politics, while also providing relevant suggestions for other political science subfields engaged in empirical inquiry. This volume marks the beginning of an important conversation on making research more impactful beyond academic circles.
"The increasingly challenging public environment for social scientific research often compels scholars to draw policy and normative conclusions from their work. Doing so thoughtfully and carefully, however, is its own challenge. Bartels and Bonneau have assembled a veritable "who's who" in political science, law, and other fields to tackle this challenge head-on. The series of essays that make up this valuable collection offer both explicit advice and valuable examples for engaging with broader audiences. It should be required reading for scholars (new and old) who are grappling with the prescriptive aspects of their empirical work, and how best to connect with those outside the academy. "—Christopher Zorn, Pennsylvania State University
"Through systematic research, scholars have amassed a great deal of insight into the operations, decision-making, and consequences of the judicial system. Ironically, there is relatively little conversation between the researchers, who study the courts, and the policy makers, who manage them. Why? Bartels and Bonneau have assembled an impressive cast of political scientists and legal scholars to address this question --- and to offer some possible solutions. Both academics and governmental officials will benefit from reading this highly original and important book."—Kevin McGuire, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Crisis can be opportunity. Recent efforts to cut funding for social science research provides the stimulus for this fresh and important examination of the growing gap between the supposedly value-neutral research on law and courts produced by the social sciences and the deeply normative and prescriptive analysis of the legal academy. Each badly needs to learn from the other. This volume demonstrates this divide is broad and deep – but it also provides more than a few steps on the long and much needed road to rigor and relevance."—Gordon Silverstein, Assistant Dean, Yale Law School
ISBN: 9781138021907
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 476g
260 pages