Research Methods for Law and Gender

This chapter will provide an introduction to some of the research methods and approaches used in the study of law and gender, in its widest sense. Although 'traditional' legal research methods including doctrinal analysis, case law report analysis are used in research concerning law and gender, in many cases a more sociolegal approach is taken which incorporates methods used traditionally in other disciplines such as sociology, criminology and history. This chapter considers how knowledge is produced and the foundations for that knowledge, including the conceptual origins and perspectives that provide a framework for feminist legal research, specifically using Katherine T. Bartlett's approaches. We structure the chapter around these four main principles of doing feminist legal research.