This article is aimed at exploring the methodology of the legal phenomenon. Particular attention was paid to such aspects as clarifying the main approaches to understanding the methodology and how it relates to the research methodology; study of the scope and structure of the concept of methodology; outlining the main research methods.
The author draws conclusions from the results of the study. First, the methodology for the study of legal phenomena needs to be updated based on a change in the legal paradigm associated with the understanding of law (relation to the state and its functions) and the formation of legal reality at the beginning of the 21st century both at national and international level. the legal aspect. Secondly, the current methodology of legal research continues to be in the co-ordinates of an important dilemma regarding the correlation of "purely" legal research methods and so-called "interdisciplinary" approaches. Third, the methodological tools (specific research methods) of legal science remain inexhaustible in content and, in particular, in the possible combinations of their application to achieve a cognitive result. The extension of their catalog is influenced by the development of jurisprudence and other sciences, their epistemological components, and the processes of globalization and internationalization of legal life.
Concerning the optimal research methodology (as opposed to its methodology), it should be noted that in the course of legal research the algorithm of actions is as follows: 1) selection of the research coordination center; 2) literature review; 3) hypothesis formulation; 4) research design; 5) data collection; 6) data analysis; 7) interpretation of data; report. Of course, it should be borne in mind that law is not in a vacuum, it operates in a complex social context. It reflects and controls attitudes and behaviors. However, as these rules are also temporal and spatial, that is, they change with time and space, it is desirable that law can adapt and be dynamic to cope with change. Important is the social audit of law (law) in order to identify the distance between the legal ideal and social reality, as well as to find out the reasons that led them. After all, legal research is a systematic understanding of law in order to improve it and, given that law operates in society, in the process they influence one another.