On Legal Research 03 - HYPOTHESIS AND VARIABLE

 

 

                                                                                         [Image Source: Wikimedia Commons]

HYPOTHESIS: A hypothesis is like a smart guess in legal research. It's a statement that tries to explain something or predict what might happen. Notably, it's not a fact or a rule – it's more like a guess we can check by doing tests. Hypotheses help us know what to look for in our research. They also help us figure out if our research results are important by comparing them to what we thought might happen.

A legal research hypothesis (LRH) is like an educated guess in the field of law. It's a statement that tries to explain or predict something related to law. But remember, it's not a fact – it's more like a testable idea. Hypotheses help focus research and tell us how important the findings are.

An LRH usually talks about how different legal issues are connected. To formulate an LRH, the following steps may be followed:

  1. Figuring out which legal issue the researcher wants to study, such as laws or legal ideas.
  2. Finding out the linkage between those legal issues. It could be a strong link, a weak one, or no link at all.
  3. Generating a testable idea. This means the researcher can gather information to see if the idea is right or wrong.
  4. Writing down the idea clearly and simply, without using fancy words that people might not understand.

Illustration:

Hypothesis: The graver is the crime, the longer is the punishment.

This means when a crime is grave, the punishment is usually longer. This is just a guess. We need to research to see if it's true or not.

While formulating an LRH, the following matters should be kept in mind:

  • The hypothesis must fit with the research question.
  • The researcher needs to have mastery over the specific legal issue that is being researched.
  • The researcher must find out the linkage between the legal issues precisely.
  • The researcher must avoid making statements that are too broad or too narrow.
  • The researcher must be ready all the time to change the hypothesis if the research demands so.

 

VARIABLE: In research, variables are things that the researcher can measure or change. They're characteristics that can be different for people, groups, or situations. In legal research, it is used to see how legal rules or policies affect their outcomes. For instance, a variable could be the kind of legal aid given to low-income litigants, and the researcher might want to know if that affects how often they win their cases.

Here are the main types of variables:

  • Independent variable: Something that's thought to cause a change in a legal outcome.
  • Dependent variable: The result or outcome in a legal situation.
  • Moderating variable: Something that influences how strongly or in which way the independent variable affects the dependent variable.
  • Mediating variable: Something that explains why the independent variable affects the dependent variable.
  • Confounding variable: Something not being studied, but it can still affect the study's results.

For example, say a researcher wants to see what affects the length of sentences in criminal cases. She/he might think the type of crime (like murder or robbery) is the independent variable, affecting the length of the sentence (dependent variable). But other things like the defendant's age (moderating variable) and criminal history (mediating variable) can change how this works. To check, the researcher needs to gather data from different data sources and analyze them to see if these variables are connected in a significant way.

 

 © YASIN AL RAZI

 

 

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