Workshop on the Use of Vignettes in Empirical Legal Research

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Practical information

To establish causality, it is necessary to conduct so-called experimental research. In an experimental study, there is an experimental group that receives an ‘intervention’ (education, punishment, an alternative outcome, a pill) and a control group that is otherwise similar but did not receive that intervention. The differences between the experimental and control group reflect the effect of the intervention.

In many practical situations in ELS, it is not possible to conduct experimental research: every court case is different, we cannot ‘randomise’ judges or injured people to interventions, and more often than not, practical objections make this kind of research unfeasible.

Vignettes are a useful method to still investigate causal effects. A vignette is a case description: for example, a violent incident. We administer this, and we then ask respondents, for example, how bad they think the incident was, or how much punishment the perpetrator should receive. Now, by randomly changing certain aspects of the case study, we can mimic experimental research. For example, half of respondents (by chance) get a case with a male offender and the other half with a female offender. Or one half gets a case where the offender shows remorse, and the other half gets a case where the offender shows no remorse. If then there are differences between the male or female offender, or the offender with or without remorse, we attribute these to that factor.

How can you use vignettes, and what should you pay attention to when creating vignettes, and administering them among respondents? In this session, we will address practical issues like these, and also briefly discuss the theory behind vignettes. We will then discuss some creative ELS examples.

LEVEL: Medium

METHOD: Quantitative

ABOUT THE LECTURERS:

Catrien Bijleveld has degrees in research methodology and law. She is senior researcher at NSCR  and professor of  Research Methods in Empirical Legal Studies and Criminology at  VU University in Amsterdam. Catrien’s main research interests are in the areas of criminal careers, intergenerational continuity in offending, international crimes and crime victimization. She is the author of several textbooks as well as of edited books. She also holds positions at the WRR thinktank in the Hague and at Liverpool University.

Victor van der Geest is an associate professor at the department of Criminology at the VU University. His research focuses on developmental features of the criminal career, with a special interest in studying the role of individual characteristics in the commission of certain forms of non-street crime, such as white-collar crime and environmental crime. He is a teacher in statistics and research methodology.

PREREQUISITES: No prior knowledge is required. Participants are advised to follow the workshops on Survey design, and Introduction to Qualtrics.

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ELS Academy’s No-Show Policy:

Please note that the workshops are given by experts in the field who do this on a voluntary basis. Places are often limited and we have people on the waiting list. For this reason, the ELS Academy has a strict no-show policy. In case you are prevented from attending the workshop, kindly send an email to contact@elsacademy.nl at least 48 hours before the workshop to make space for people on the waiting list.

If you do not attend the workshop without prior cancellation, your supervisor will be informed about your no-show and you will not be able to register for another ELS Academy event for the next two months. This is also very unfortunate for us, however, it can be prevented if we receive a simple cancellation via e-mail.

Thank you for understanding and see you there!