Making Space for Online Research Experiments in Law School Courses

Abstract

This reflective article explores opportunities for integrating online research experiments into large law school courses. It does so by drawing on the experience of the authors with an online research experiment involving simulated refugee adjudication undertaken with the full cohort of 1L students in a Canadian faculty of law. The article describes the context for the research, sets out the lessons that the authors learned about conducting experimental research, and describes the positive feedback provided by student participants. The article concludes with a recommendation by the authors that other legal scholars consider integrating research experiments into law school courses, both for research and pedagogical purposes.