Empirical legal research in action reflections on methods and their applications edited by Willem H. van Boom (Leiden Law School, Leiden University, the Netherlands), Pieter Desmet (Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands), and Peter Mascini (Erasmus School of Law and Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands).

Includes index.

Contents: 1. Empirical legal research: charting the terrain / Willem van Boom, Pieter Desmet and Peter Mascini -- 2. Conducting experiments and surveys in the field of administrative justice: on the importance of fair procedures in governance / Hilke Grootelaar and Kees van den Bos -- 3. Experimental criminal law: a survey of contributions from Law, economics and criminology / Christoph Engel -- 4. Experimental approaches to private law: the case of redressing personal injury / Christopher P. Reinders Folmer -- 5. Factorial survey research in the study of environmental regulatory processes / Melissa Rorie, Sally S. Simpsonand Breanna Boppre -- 6. Case studies in administrative law: the example of self-reporting rules in the regulation of business activities / Julien Etienne -- 7. Cases under construction / Irene van Oorschot and Peter Mascini -- 8. A traditional lawyers' perspective on the importance of ELS for legal scholarship / Jan Crijns, Ivo Giesen and Wim Voermans -- Index.

Empirical legal research is a growing field of academic expertise, yet lawyers are not always familiar with the possibilities and limitations of the available methods. Empirical Legal Research in Action presents readers with first-hand experiences of empirical research on law and legal issues. The chapters, written by an international cast of scholars, reflect on the methods that they have applied in their own empirical work, spanning a wide breadth of research from psychological experiments in personal injury to field studies in sociology and political science. Empirical Legal Research in Action not only reviews the advantages, limitations and challenges that such methods pose but also considers the value of empirical research to lawyers and the law. Vitally, the contributions offer an academic reflection on methodological challenges, as well as the relevance, of empirical research for lawyers. This insightful book will be useful reading for academic researchers in law and for policymakers seeking to understand the methodological challenges of empirical work in legal research. Social sciences scholars will also find this book of interest to appreciate the multitude of methods in empirical legal research.