Methods of Human Rights Research: A Primer
Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 32, pp. 179-186, 2010
8 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2009 Last revised: 22 Feb 2019
Date Written: April 27, 2009
Abstract
This article suggests that research in the field of human rights, especially legal human rights research, exhibits a tendency to devote insufficient attention to questions of methodology. This may be caused by the fact that human rights scholars often are (former) human rights activists. Dispensing with methodological niceties enables them to engage in wishful thinking and come up with the conclusions they were hoping to find in the first place. The article makes some suggestions for those who wish to avoid this pitfall, including carefully spelling out your research method, discussing which alternative methods you have rejected and avoiding the term ‘emerging’ human right.
Keywords: methodology, human rights
JEL Classification: K00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation