Panel 3: Empirical Methods Showcase III (Quantitative): Quantitative Content Analysis of Legal Case Materials

Chair:

Mark C. Suchman (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Participant:

Mark Hall (Wake Forest University)

Papers:

Quantitative Case Analysis of Juries
Mary R. Rose (University of Texas, Austin)

Uncertain Justice: The Determinants of Outcomes in Federal Employment Discrimination Litigation 1987-2003
Robert L. Nelson (American Bar Foundation/Northwestern University), Laura Beth Nielsen (American Bar Foundation/Northwestern University), Ryan Lancaster (University of Chicago)

Coding Cases Without Courts: Using Witness Narratives to Study Genocidal Victimization in Darfur
John Hagan (Northwestern University)

Abstract:

This session offers a window into an important class of research methods for the empirical study of law. Unlike more traditional methodology sessions, the panel will showcase methodology in action, featuring substantive research projects that employ quantitative content analysis to address questions of broad interest to sociolegal scholars regardless of methodological orientation (or lack thereof). The session is one of several panels on research methodology, sponsored by the CRN on Realist and Empirical Methods. Using a somewhat novel format, these panels are designed to speak to methodological novices and experienced investigators alike. Each session will begin with a “pre-cussant,” who will describe the methodological terrain, highlighting common advantages and challenges of the focal techniques. This pre-cussion will be followed by substantive research presentations from investigators who are actively engaged in studies of this type. In the present session, three leading scholars will draw on their own projects to illustrate how quantitative case analysis can shed light on a diverse array of sociolegal questions — from jury behavior to equal employment opportunity to international human rights. Together, the pre-cussion and the research presentations will serve both to introduce the audience to possibly unfamiliar empirical techniques and to showcase the use of rigorous and creative methods in the service of intriguing and important substance.