Tarlton Law Library: Empirical Research: Home

Introduction

Empirical research presents new challenges for legal scholars. This guide provides some resources which will get you started. A fundamental challenge is locating the data you need for your project. This guide features a selection of helpful data resources, including general data sets and data sets specifically related to courts or crimes. It also highlights some of the support services available on The University of Texas at Austin’s campus for statistical research and provides resources for learning about empirical legal research methods and applications.

Campus Resources

Department of Statistics and Data Sciences
A division of the College of Natural Sciences, the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences provides campus-wide services for students, faculty, and staff, including consulting services. Consultants can help design your study, select an appropriate statistical procedure, identify the various parts of your output, or interpret results.
Office of the Vice President for Research
The Office of the Vice President for Research provides support to UT Austin researchers, including information about finding funding, guidance on connecting with other researchers, and information about available resources.
Office of Research Support and Compliance
The Office of Research Support and Compliance ensures that university research is conducted safely and ethically. It includes the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is charged which reviewing all research conducted under the auspices of UT Austin. The IRB ensures that human research is conducted ethically and in compliance with federal regulatory requirements.
Office of Sponsored Projects
The Office of Sponsored Projects coordinates activities related to externally funded research and sponsored projects at UT Austin. In particular, the office supports university researchers in securing and properly managing external funding. It assists with the following research activities: proposal review, authorization, and submission; award negotiations and acceptance; account management; close-out, reports, audits, and collection; professional development and education; export control; and research compliance.
PCL Data Lab
Located in the Scholars Commons at the Perry-Castaneda Library, the Data Lab provides UT students and faculty with access to powerful software tools for data management, statistical analysis, and graphics creation.
Research Data Services
Research Data Services supports the data management activities of UT faculty, students, and staff. The office connects researchers with resources for addressing their data management needs at every stage of the research process, including data management planning, data organization and curation, and data sharing and publishing.

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Empirical Research

Introduction

Campus Resources