Where are the numbers? Challenging the barriers to quantitative socio‐legal scholarship in the United Kingdom
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Author | RACHEL CAHILL‐O'CALLAGHAN,LINDA MULCAHY |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12376 |
DOI: ./j ols.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Where are the numbers? Challenging the
barriers to quantitative socio-legal scholarship
in the United Kingdom
RACHEL CAHILL-O’CALLAGHAN1LINDA MULCAHY2
School of Law and Politics, Cardiff
University, Law Building, Museum
Avenue, Cardiff, CF AX, Wales
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies,
University of Oxford, Manor Road,
Oxford, OX UQ, England
Correspondence
Rachel Cahill-O’Callaghan, School of Law
and Politics, Cardiff University,Law
Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF
AX, Wales
Email: cahill-ocallaghanr@cardiff.ac.uk
Abstract
Legal scholars in the United Kingdom (UK) rarely
adopt a quantitative approach to addressing socio-legal
questions. Reasons for this are typically grounded in
the nature of general education, legal education, and
research training. In this article, we argue that an intel-
lectual debate on capacity building needs to consider
the conditions that have limited the production of quan-
titative work both within and beyond our discipline.
This article draws on an empirical analysis of published
socio-legal articles to understand the nature of quanti-
tative scholarship and evidence an increasing body of
work that reflects a flexible approach to data collec-
tion and analysis. Moving beyond the tribalism often
associated with the qualitative/quantitative divide, we
draw attention to the shift away from understandings
of quantitative work as hypothesis testing towards those
that are accepting of the importance of critical reflection
and exploration of nuance. It is hoped that the article
will prompt further discussion about capacity build-
ing to develop and sustain good-quality quantitative
socio-legal scholarship in the UK.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly cited.
© The Authors. Journalof Law and Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cardiff University (CU).
J. Law Soc. ;(Suppl. ):S–S. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jols S
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