Empirical Legal Research

rights defenders with the society in the context restrictive legal

environment facing human rights NGOs: A case-study of Russia”


How does society affect HRDs’ security?
Effects of the legislation?

the context of the existing legislation)

HYPOTHESIS: (flows from research

questions, your intuition and information availiable) - a possible or tentative answer to a question.

in the context of HRD protection?’
The quantitative method of data

collection and analysis will first gauge the attitudes of Russian society towards HRDs, allowing for an exploration of HRD-society relationships from the perspective of the society and, more generally, for learning more about the society as an entity that may significantly affect HRD security. Numeric data from the generalizable sample is crucial for discerning societal perception of HRDs by different social groups and exploring the ratio between positive and negative attitudes towards HRDs. It will allow the researcher to evaluate the social environment in which HRDs operate, to see whether the measures to stigmatize and discredit HRDs work have had an effect on the society and whether the Russian society is rather hostile or favorable towards HRDs. Currently, there exists limited empirical evidence on social attitudes towards HRDs.
Second, the in-depth interviews with HRDs will gauge their firsthand experiences, allowing the researcher to develop a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the research questions. Scholars note that a qualitative approach explores a phenomenon in its natural setting, providing insight to discern the meanings of the context. Thus, the two methods will complement each other in answering the research questions.
Embarking on the mixed-method research, the researcher takes into account scholars’ evaluations that it is more difficult and more resource-consuming for a researcher to carry out mixed methods research than single quantitative or qualitative approach. Collecting, analysing and interpreting the data requires more time, energy, and effort. Often, researchers are better trained in one method. Another challenging aspect of using mixed methods research is the integration or mixing of qualitative and quantitative data due to the fundamental differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods and the role of timing.
 
Creswell (1994) (n520).
Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (n517).
Allan Bryman, ‘Barriers to Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research’ (2007) 1 Journal of Mixed Methods Research 1 8.
Ibid

Conducting it!

population that we take out to examine and draw conclusions

from)

Sample has to be representative (closely matches the characteristics of the population)

Big enough
Unbiased sampling technique: everyone has to have a change to be asked

sampling –
the sampling is carried out
in several stages such that

the sample size gets
reduced at each stage.
Then, one or more clusters are chosen
at random and everyone within the chosen
cluster is sampled.

BIAS

points of view and are a helpful tool for exploring

phenomena in depth. It is also a tool for understanding and exploring the social world and the relationship between people

(Bickman and Rog, The Sage Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods (Sage Publication 2009).

NGOs
Semi-structured interviews
Interview
Avoid leading questions
Ethics