Statistics and Empirical Legal Studies Research Guide

Searching for Empirical Studies on a Particular Topic

If you are interested in empirical studies of a particular legal topic, you can search for keywords like empiricalstatisticalquantitative, or qualitative in the article title. Westlaw example: ti("capital punishment" & empirical). You could also search the full-text of articles using terms like tablefigure, p-value, or confidence interval in conjunction with words related to your broader topic. Westlaw example: "capital punishment" & ("table 1" or "figure 1" or "tbl. 1" or "fig. 1" or p-value or "confidence interval")

Search the following types of databases: 1) If you are looking for books, search using the Library Search Tool, which includes our catalog, and run a keyword search. You can also search Worldcat to find books in other libraries. 2) To search for working papers yet to be published, search SSRN. 3) To search for published journal articles, search databases such as Westlaw's Law Reviews & Journals, Lexis's Law Reviews & Journals, Proquest Central, or Google Scholar. The Law Library's Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research has more information.

Empirical Legal Studies Periodicals

The periodicals below frequently publish empirical research on legal topics, as well as articles about empirical research methods in the law.

For more information, see the guide Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research.