Distinguish between Doctrinal and Non Doctrinal Legal Research

But you need to be very careful when choosing these sources. Finding reliable and accurate sources takes time and effort. Useful information must be separated from the chaff, as the presence of unreliable information could lead to misleading and inaccurately distorted results. The effectiveness of this method also depends on the question that is asked at the beginning. Asking the right question is the first step towards concrete research. Making the right proposal and then relying on the right sources is the key to successful doctrinal research. This chapter focuses on conceptual mapping of the place of social law methods in legal research. The questions to be addressed are: What are the underlying theories about the nature of the law and legal reasoning that underlie this form of science? How to understand the position of law in relation to the general social sciences? After finding this methodological school, I will then examine the reasons that students or researchers might have for participating in social law research. This is achieved by discussing five main strands of social law research and how they seek to make distinctive contributions to knowledge. It will be demonstrated that social law research has challenged the culture of doctrinal legal research by questioning the supposed centrality of law and legal institutions to many social problems.

Attempts have been made to provide a more complex understanding of “how legal rules, doctrines, legal decisions, institutionalized cultural and legal practices work together to create the reality of the law in action.” 1 As a result, proponents of methodology have succeeded in challenging jurists to show greater political imagination by recognizing the status of law as a mere form of regulation and warning against overly doctrinal conceptions of the discipline. Research basically means looking for something over and over again until we come to a clear conclusion. It is a systematic survey that involves the collection of data, critical information, organization, and then analysis to derive something meaningful from it. The word “recherche” is derived from the French word “recherché”, which means to investigate thoroughly. So whenever research is done, whether in any field, it`s about digging deeper into the topic and understanding it. The development of a social protection policy for the people has become the main task of the State. But this is not possible without data revealing the real circumstances of the company. Non-doctrinal research tells us what society really needs, where laws are lacking, and what are the responses of the people on whom these laws are imposed. All this information, which can be obtained through non-doctrinal research, makes policy-making better and easier.

The advantages of non-doctrinal research are manifold, but the most important is its usefulness for practical purposes. It helps to assess the effectiveness of laws in various non-legal areas. It is an effective tool for assessing the performance of law in society. Legal issues are best analysed when they are studied in depth, taking into account all the factors that could influence them. In addition, when data is quantified, it becomes more rationally attractive and authentic. Because it relies on primary sources of information, it is more reliable. However, it also has its fair share of pitfalls. Non-doctrinal research takes a long time. It takes a lot of time and resources. The availability of funds is another challenge.

Collecting data can be a daunting task. In addition, collecting the right reservoir of information from the company can be full of errors. People have different understandings and different amounts of information. They have their own prejudices. This means that the information collected, for example from questionnaires and surveys, can be distorted and misleading. Collecting primary data on certain sensitive topics can also be a dangerous task for the researcher. Research can also be blurred by the researcher`s personal biases and prejudices. The purpose of non-doctrinal research is to examine the usefulness of a law that has been introduced or how it affects non-legal aspects of society.

Non-legal factors also influence the implementation of the law. Sometimes a very comprehensive law is introduced, but sometimes the environment is such that its effectiveness is protected by these circumstances. For example, a law introduced to open the market to foreign actors in order to liberalize the economy can be seen as very destructive and devastating at a time like a pandemic when the domestic market is hit hard by the lockdown.