Introduction to Research Methodology For Law and Criminal Justice (IRM1501) latest 2024

Question 1 Research is as important as life itself. It provides the building block upon which societal growth and advancement is hinged. Our understanding of the way things are, how things happen and what is responsible for such occurrences is due to the help of research. Research also helps us study patterns in the past, feelings, attitudes and opinion then use it to determine what should happen next. With research we can extrapolate how a city would likely expand and the level of infrastructural development such a city would require to cope with the expansion. It also helps to ascertain per capital income, medical needs, birth rates and death rates. It helps organizations understand what their consumers need and where they need improvement. It also helps to determine how to innovate…so and so. Research has left an indelible mark on society and will forever be the basis for any genuine advancement in human society… hence countries and organizations fund research heavily. Question 2 1.Facts of this case The claimant, Thiagraj Soobramoney, suffered from chronic renal failure (among other diseases) and was in dire need of renal dialysis in order to stave off death. When he ran out of personal funds with which to pay private providers, he sought service in Addington Hospital, a state-funded hospital in Durban. The hospital refused Soobramoney treatment because his general physical condition did not qualify him for treatment under the criteria or guidelines used by the hospital to determine eligibility for such treatments. Suffering from a terminal illness and in need for renal dialysis to prolong his life, Soobramoney brought a constitutional application seeking an order for the hospital to provide him with access to dialysis treatment. 3 2.The Legal Question 1. Whether the right in section 27(1) right to have access to healthcare ,food and water was violated . 2. Which emergency Medical treatment amounted for the purpose of Section 27(3). 3. Which criteria had to be used to determine the availability of resources. 3.The court decision The High Court dismissed his application. On appeal, the Constitutional Court having found the hospital’s standards well within the bounds of reason and fairly applied to Soobramoney, unanimously dismissed the appeal and held that the failure to provide treatment to him did not violate the South African Bill of Rights. The Court held that the right to health care does not have to be inferred from the right to life because section 27 of the Constitution specifically deals with health rights. The case largely turned on whether the hospital violated Soobramoney’s right not to be “refused emergency medical treatment” (in accordance with section 27(3) of the Constitution). The Court found that Soobramoney’s case was not an “emergency” in the sense of a sudden catastrophe, but rather an “ongoing state of affairs”. Instead, the case falls under sections 27(1) and (2) of the Constitution which deal with the allocation of nonemergency medical treatment. Obligations imposed on the state regarding access to health care are dependent upon the resources available, as stated in sections 27(1) and (2). Because of limited resources the hospital had adopted a policy of admitting only those patients who could be cured within a short period and those with chronic renal failure who are eligible for a kidney transplant. The Court declared that it could not interfere with decisions taken in good faith by political organs and medical authorities as to how to allocate budgets and decide on priorities. Question 3 Scientific research is a logically stepped process used for investigating and acquiring or expanding our understanding. The findings of scientific research can be reproduced and demonstrated to be consistent. While in non scientific research, the research it’s not logically stepped process that used for investigating and acquiring or expanding our understanding. 4 Scientific research acquiring knowledge and truths about the data or information using techniques that follow the scientific methods such as identification of a problem, formulation of statement of a problem, formulation of hypothesis, data analysis data recording, presentation and interpretation, testing hypothesis and recommendation and conclusion. while Non scientific acquiring knowledge and truths about the world using techniques without follow the scientific method. A scientific research is always able to back its findings, while a non-scientific research is whatever someone found on the internet to back his own claims, without any proof whatsoever. That is the reason I think scientific research , as opposed to non-scientific research, is important. Question 4 1. Post – test only 2. Pertest-post test only Question 5 Transformative Constitutionalism “Transformative Constitutionalism is said to be a new concept on the constitution. “south Africa comes from a past of oppression ,inequality, unfair discrimination and marginalization of black people were killed by the white minority and oppressed .The apartheid regime had laws that were introduced through its parliament that rendered parliament Supreme. This system allowed enactment of laws that would purport racial segmentation , repression , disenfranchisement and gave the white forces a license to kill black people i.e. Section 277 (1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act no . 51 of 1997 that prescribed that the death penalty was a competent sentence for murder. The invalidation of the said act in the matter of S v Makwanyane did not only prove that interim Constitution of 1993 and subsequently the constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, was Supreme, it also set a presidency to all Courts of the Republic to exercise and