Empirical research with judicial officers:  The biography of a research project

Sharyn Roach Anleu; Kathy Mack

doi:10.35295/osls.iisl.1726

Authors

Sharyn Roach Anleu Flinders University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7892-0099
Kathy Mack Flinders University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1726

Keywords:

Courts, judicial officers, research collaboration

Abstract

This article examines the history of a large multi-year, national empirical research project into the Australian judiciary undertaken by the two co-authors. We consider the different phases of the project, discuss what worked and what did not, and offer some suggestions for future research involving judicial officers and their courts. The research project entailed negotiating collaboration with and access to judicial officers and court staff on a national, state and local basis. Reflecting on this experience confirms the importance of collaboration with the courts and judiciary and researcher independence from them. Collaboration provides extensive access, supporting a long term, multi-method research design, and providing findings that are original, robust and valuable to the judiciary. It is equally important to maintain researcher independence: to ensure that courts and government commit to researcher control of data, its analysis and application, recognising that the courts cannot censor findings, presentations or publications. Collaboration and independence require generating and maintaining long term relationships, so that research leads to robust original scholarship that benefits judicial officers, courts, and the publics they serve.

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Author Biographies

Sharyn Roach Anleu, Flinders University

Sharyn Roach Anleu is Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, and Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2023, she received the Law and Society Association International Prize. With Kathy Mack she leads the Judicial Research Project at Flinders University. Their latest book is Judging and Emotion: A Socio-Legal Analysis (2021). Sharyn co-edited Judges, Judging and Humour (2018) with Jessica Milner Davis. Contact details: College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Judicial Research Project. Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia. Email address: judicial.research@flinders.edu.au

Kathy Mack, Flinders University

Kathy Mack is Emerita Professor, Flinders University in the College of Business, Government and Law. Kathy is the author of a monograph, book chapters and articles on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and articles on legal education and evidence. Since 1994, with Sharyn Roach Anleu, she has undertaken socio-legal research into Australian courts and judiciary, including investigating the production of guilty pleas, and examining the everyday work of the judiciary, through the Judicial Research Project at Flinders University. Their latest book is Judging and Emotion: A Socio-Legal Analysis (Routledge 2021). Contact details: College of Business, Law and Government. Judicial Research Project. Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia. Email address: judicial.research@flinders.edu.au

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