Introduction to Empirical Legal Methods

Day 1, December 8, 2026: Designing Research
(Note: Students should bring a laptop to class, loaded with Stata. Please open Stata prior to class to ensure that the software is installed properly.)

Topics Covered in Class (9:15-12:15)

• An Example

• A Thought Experiment

• The Basics of Conducting Empirical Research

• The Specifics of Designing the Research

Your Assignment (Email to me, epstein@wustl.edu, by 16:00)

• The assignment is here.

• Please also download the La Porta dataset (laporta.dta) and the La Porta codebook (click on the links to download). You’ll need them for the assignment.

Day 2, December 9, 2026: Collecting and Coding Data

Topics Covered in Class (9:15-12:15)

• Decide on the Target Population

• Locate the Data, or Generate Them

• Code the Data

• Intro to Data Analysis

Your Assignment (Email to me, epstein@wustl.edu, by 16:00)

• The assignment is here.

• For the assignment, you’ll need to use the La Porta dataset again. You’ll also need these items: constitutional provision packet (which includes the coding table), the ESS dataset (ess11-sweden.dta), and the the ESS codebook (ess11-sweden-codebook.pdf). Click on the links to download.

Day 3, December 10, 2026: Data Analysis

Topics Covered in Class (9:15-12:15)