Harvard Empirical Legal Studies Series – How to Conduct Qualitative Empirical Legal Scholarship

Jessica Silbey, Professor of Law at Boston University
Yanakakis Faculty Research Scholar

This session explores the benefits and some limitations of qualitative research methods to study intellectual property law. It compares quantitative research methods and the economic analysis of law in the same field as other kinds of empirical inquiry that are helpful in collaboration but limited in isolation. Creativity and innovation, the practices intellectual property law purports to regulate, are not amenable to quantification without identifying qualitative variables. The lessons from this session apply across fields of legal research.