Data Resources and Statistics for Legal Research: Statistics Computing
This guide includes links to online sources for gathering data focusing in particular on government datasets. #governmentdata #statistics #datavisualizations #legalresearch
SAS is statistical programming software which supports analysis of variance and linear regression, statistical visualization, modeling, forecasting and much more.
U.S. Census Bureau data.census.govData.census.gov is the new, centralized platform to access demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Global Development FinanceDebt and financial flow data for 136 countries that report public and publicly guaranteed debt to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System. DataBank is an analysis and visualisation tool that contains collections of time series data on a variety of topics. You can create your own queries; generate tables, charts, and maps; and easily save, embed, and share them.
Government Finance Statistics (an IMF database)Government Finance Statistics is a subset of the database International Financial Statistics which is a product of the International Monetary Fund. It includes all aspects of international and domestic finance, with history from 1948 forward.
Historical Statistics of the United StatesContains more than 37,000 annual time series of quantitative historical information covering virtually every quantifiable dimension of American history: population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations, all from the earliest times to the present. A compendium of statistics from over 1000 sources last updated in 1990, HSUS has been expanded to include data series and topics such as slavery, American Indians, health, crime, migration, poverty, and the Confederate States of America are each placed in historical context.
IMF eLibrary Data (International Financial Statistics)International Financial Statistics is a product of the International Monetary Fund. It includes all aspects of international and domestic finance, with history to 1948.The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) eLibrary simplifies analysis and research with direct access to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools. You will find information and perspective on macroeconomics, globalization, development, trade and aid, technical assistance, demographics, emerging markets, policy advice, poverty reduction, and so much more.
International Historical StatisticsInternational Historical Statistics; 1750-2010 3-volume set is the latest edition of the most authoritative collection of statistics available. Updated to 2010 wherever possible, it provides key economic and social indicators for the last 260 years, serving as an essential reference source.
Proquest - Statistical InsightA comprehensive collection of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States, it is a snapshot of America and its people. ProQuest Statistical Insight provides fast and easy access to statistical information produced by U.S. Federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations. Depending on an institution's subscription, a user can search between approximately 200,000 to 500,000 tables with is advanced Search Tables functionality.
Social ExplorerContains historical decennial census data for the United States from 1790 to the latest census, the American Community Survey, the American Religious Bodies (ASARB), and InfoGroup for latest religion data . Able to create reports and download data in convenient formats quickly and easily. Engagement between society and science.
UNdataUNdata is a data access system to UN databases. The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched a new internet based data service for the global user community. It brings UN statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single entry point. Users can now search and download a variety of statistical resources of the UN system.
World DataBankDataBank is an analysis and visualisation tool that contains collections of time series data on a variety of topics. You can create your own queries; generate tables, charts, and maps; and easily save, embed, and share them.
Sage StatsAGE Stats makes research easy by providing, in one place, annual measures dating back more than two decades. It features statistical data series created from more than 200,000 government and non-government datasets, covering popular topics of research interest for U.S. states, counties, cities, metropolitan areas, and ZIP codes.
SSRN Articles Law and Empirical Research
Getting Down and Dirty: The Case for Empirical Legal ResearchThis paper considers the role of empirical research in legal scholarship. The paper argues that the failure by higher education institutes, including, but not limited to, failings on the part of law schools, to develop a more significant research capacity in empirical legal research could have very negative impacts on the next generation of legal scholars. It sets out some (very) personal reflections of the author and illustrates the argument by using practical examples of empirical legal research. As a result, it seeks to be both a ‘call to arms’ and a practical guide for those interested in pursuing empirical legal research.
Empirical Legal Research: The Gap between Facts and Values and Legal Academic TrainingWhile traditional legal scholarship is under pressure and debates are taking place on the aims and methods of the academic study of law, at the same time empirical legal research is blossoming if not booming. The more empirical legal research is a growth industry, the more important it is to understand and discuss epistemological, methodological and translational problems of this field of study. This paper focuses on problems of a translational character, i.e. how to bring empirical evidence to the fore, in such a way that it can be understood and used by lawyers, legislators and regulators. And how to deal with the gap between facts (‘evidence’) and values, also known as the fact-value dichotomy. Our perspective is what students of law, including PhD candidates and legal practitioners (in training), need to know about this problem and how to address it. The paper summarizes several approaches to this gap problem, based on Giesen (2015) and continues with a critical analysis of his due process approach. Our analysis is that the gap problem continues to exist despite Giesen’s suggestions. Therefore four other approaches are put forward, two from the field of evaluation studies, one from argumentational analysis and one from empirically informed ethics. Finally, the paper discusses the relevance of these approaches for the legal curriculum.
Behavioral Law and Economics: Empirical MethodsOriginally, behavioral law and economics was an exercise in exploring the implications of key findings from behavioral economics (and psychology) for the analysis and reform of legal institutions. Yet as the new discipline matures, it increasingly replaces foreign evidence by fresh evidence, directly targeted to the legal research question. This chapter surveys the key methods: field evidence, survey data, vignette and lab experiment, discusses their pros and cons, illustrates them with key publications, and concludes with methodological paths for future development. It quantifies statements with descriptive statistics about the 77 behavioral papers that have been published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies since its foundation until the end of 2012.
Empirical Law and EconomicsEmpirical work has grown in importance in law and economics. This growth coincides with improvements in research designs in empirical microeconomics more generally. In this essay, we provide a stylized discussion of some trends over the last two or three decades, linking the credibility revolution in empirical micro to the ascendancy of empirical work in law and economics. We then provide some methodological observations about a number of commonly used approaches to estimating policy effects. The literature on the economics of crime and criminal procedure illustrates the ways in which many of these techniques have been used successfully. Other fields, including corporate law and economics and the law and economics of civil procedure, have lagged behind in methodological terms.
Law and Economics: Contexts and CriticismsThe purpose of this paper is trying to reach a brief understanding and overview of the law economics methodology through exploring its history and origin, and how it was developed. Also this paper will highlight the sub fields of the law and economic methodology and how it operates. finally, it will present the criticisms of that methodology and the counter responses to such criticisms.
Quantitative Methods in Comparative LawIn the field of comparative law, the use of economic analysis has been at the same time fashionable and controversial. Notwithstanding its controversial acceptance in the discipline, the so-called comparative law and economics method is an important example of the application of economics to areas that were once considered beyond the realm of economic analysis. This article discusses the multiple roles that quantitative economic methods (both theoretical and empirical) can play for comparative legal analysis.
The Role of Statistical Software in Data AnalysisAs quantitative research grows, application of statistical software (SS) becomes a more crucial part of data analysis. Researchers are experiencing a transition from manual analysis with paper to more efficient digital/electronic analysis with statistical software (SS). It identifies the prerequisites of producing world-class studies by using modern SS solutions. SS has contributed immensely in improving not only in demography studies and social investigation but also among other professionals’ researches in Nigeria and the world at large.
A cross-sectional survey of 5 lecturers each were selected from 8 departments in the two faculties in Oye-Ekiti campus and were given questionnaire base on their availability and interest. A total sample size of forty (40) academic staff were selected but thirty (30) eventually responded which comprises fifteen less experienced staff with (0-5yrs) and 15 more experienced staff with (6yrs and above) as well as 10 non-response. The small sample size was due to few lecturers in some departments as at the time of this study. Data were analyzed using SPSS package.
A univariate and bivariate analysis was done and findings of the study revealed that impact of statistical software on research results give Mean (M)=4.80 and Standard Deviation (SD)=0.41, on a (1-5) Likert scales with 80% Strongly Agree that SS has positive impact on their research result. Respondents category and running analysis without SS shows mean (M)=2.27 and Standard deviation (SD)=1.37 on a (1-5) Likert scales with 66% admitting that they cannot run analysis without SS. Some SS are suitable for some kind of analysis than others for instance, while SPSS,STATA, SAS MATLAB and R are 100% suitable for ANOVA, Eview, SAS STATA, R and MatLab are 100% suitable for time series analysis. Furthermore, STATA, SAS, Eview, MATLAB and R are 100% suitable for different kind of regression analysis among others. In FUOYE, while SPSS has 92.9% knowledge and usage, others have usage and knowledge as follows; STATA (57.1%), SAS (15.4%), MiniTab (0%), Ms-Excel (76.9%), MATLAB (28.6%), R (0%), Epi-info (16.7%), and PSPP (8.3%). The paper concludes by requesting academic staff to improve in their SS workshops training and further recommends integration of SS application in academic curriculum just like other compulsory courses.
More so choosing statistical packages to learn should be based on the suitability of the software for all possible analysis you wish to be analyzing.
The Law is not the Case: Incorporating Empirical Methods into the Culture of Case AnalysisIn this short article I explore how we as legal scholars can more systematically investigate, document, analyze, and predict the state of a particular corner of the legal universe. I contend that legal scholars who want to make strong assertions about the causal relationship between factors in the legal world (such as the link between a defendant's culture and his adjudicated culpability) must supplement traditional case analysis with social science methods and empirical data sources. More specifically, I consider the ways in which quantitative analysis of large scale data sets derived from published appellate opinions, close examination of unpublished case files, and qualitative assessments of interviews with criminal justice personnel can produce information that case analysis overlooks. I also argue that passive accounts or abstract explanations of case outcomes do not adequately capture the complexities of the justice process. Scholars therefore should articulate theories that directly address institutional actors and motivations to further our understanding of how patterns emerge. I conclude by offering some comments about the relationship between law and social science, and my reasons for optimism about the future of legal scholarship.
Behavioral Law and Economics: Empirical MethodsOriginally, behavioral law and economics was an exercise in exploring the implications of
key findings from behavioral economics (and psychology) for the analysis and reform of legal
institutions. Yet as the new discipline matures, it increasingly replaces foreign evidence by
fresh evidence, directly targeted to the legal research question. This chapter surveys the key
methods: field evidence, survey data, vignette and lab experiment, discusses their pros and
cons, illustrates them with key publications, and concludes with methodological paths for future development. It quantifies statements with descriptive statistics about the 77 behavioral papers that have been published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies since its foundation until the end of 2012.
