Historical Method

Submitted to:Prof. Maria Victoria C. Hermosisima

Professor

In partial fulfilment of the course requirements in Professional Education 14(Introduction to Research)

Submitted by:GROUP 5

Diga, Pearl Dianne R.Marikit, Shynne Marie P.

Parfan, Kimberly Shane V.Prospero, Abigail D.

Ramirez, Christian Jireh R.Roque, Arielle Q.

Vuelban, Vanessa Marie J.III-15 BEED

Philippine Normal UniversityThe National Center for Teacher Education

Faculty of Education SciencesTaft, Ave. Manila

Semester I, S.Y 2015-2016

June 25, 2015A. Definition and Areas of History

What is History?

“History is a narration of the events which have happened among mankind, including an account of the rise and fall of nations, as well as of other great changes which have affected the political and social condition of the human race.” John J.

"Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed with the minutest exactness, and yet the narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning or untrue. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time. He must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them. He must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes." Francis Parkman

History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation")[2] is the study of the past, particularly how it relates to humans. [3]

[4]It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians. Events occurring prior to written record are considered prehistory.

Areas of History Studies

Working with their advisors, graduate students in History, particularly in the Ph.D. program, are encouraged to develop innovative fields of study tailored to their individual interests. Thematic, comparative, and methodological fields that cut across conventional geographical and chronological boundaries are all possible. Below are general descriptions of the various areas of geographical focus of our faculty and their thematic interests and approaches.

1. African and Middle Eastern history2. Asian history3. European history4. Latin American history5. United States history

B. Views on the Value of Historical Research

There are many divergent views regarding to the usefulness of historical research, there are those believes that historical research helps us to broaden our experiences and make us more understanding and appreciative of our human nature and uniqueness. They conclude that by knowing our past, we know the present condition better, although we may not be able to predict accurately, using the facts in history it can nevertheless familiarize us with what we attempt to do before.

Nietzsche's View of the Value of Historical Studies and Methodso Nietzsche is generally regarded as a severe and hostile critic of historical

studies, and it is possible that the expression "historical sickness" (historische Krankheit) was made current through him.

o Favors myths and action and the belief in great men and events. o Affirm life through an affirmation of one's roots, traditions, and identity.o Liberate those who feel oppressed by tradition. Nietzsche also suggests

remedies for the exaggerated concern with history in the nineteenth century that is, emphasizing the unhistorical and the over historical.

C. Characteristics of Contemporary Historical Researches Present Historical Research investigations primarily aim for critical search for truth. The aim of contemporary history is to conceptualise, contextualise and historicise –

to explain – some aspect of the recent past or to provide a historical understanding of current trends or developments

There is no agreed definition of what time period constituted contemporary history has existed – or can exist. This is because what has needed to be explained in recent history has varied from country to country, from group to group and, even within countries, from time to time.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

These are as follows: 1. It is not a mere accumulation of facts and data or even a portrayal of past

events. 2. It is a flowing, vibrant report of past events which involves an analysis and

explanation of these occurrences with the objective of recapturing the nuances, personalities and ideas that influenced these events.

3. Conducting historical research involves the process of collecting and reading the research material collected and writing the manuscript from the data collected. The researcher often goes back-and-forth between collecting, reading, and writing.

i.e. the process of data collection and analysis are done simultaneously are not two distinct phases of research.

4. It deals with discovery of data that already exists and does not involve creation of data using structured tools.

5. It is analytical in that it uses logical induction. 6. It has a variety of foci such as issues, events, movements and concepts. 7. It records and evaluates the accomplishments of individuals, agencies or

institutions

D. Steps/Methods of Historical Research Elusive subject-matter - the past, and the peculiarly difficult task of

interpretation which this is elusive nature of then subject matter.

1. Formulating Problem

Take a look one by one at the important motives or reasons which caused you to doubt or to get interested about certain gaps in knowledge in relation to a past event or experience. From here, draw a simple, clear, and a fairly complete description of your problem.

The focus for you historical research may be individuals, institutions, curricula, textbooks, facilities, projects or programs, procedures, structures and processes, events, concepts, ideas, and phenomena which occur during a particular period of time in a given setting and culture.

You may direct your study in a subculture determined by nationality, social strata, religion, sex, age or occupation.

You may limit your investigation in one era or epoch and one sequence of events in a local, provincial, regional, or national setting.

Comparison of events in different periods, different societies, or different civilizations.

2. Gathering your source materials

Look out for many varied evidences of the activities engaged in by people who lived in the past.

It is necessary at this point to be familiar with the different types of historical sources which you may avail of as you conduct your data collection.

a. Classification of historical sources

Classified as primary or secondary (Fox, 1969) Primary source is regarded as the source of the “best evidence”.

This is because the data come from the testimony of able eye and ear witnesses to past events. They may also consist of actual

objects used in the past which you can directly scrutinize or examine.

Secondary sources are information supplied by a person who was not a direct observer or participant of the event, object, or condition.

Another classification of historical sources is based on whether the recording of data was deliberate or inadvertent.

Deliberate sources provide data which have been recorded with the conscious effort to preserve information (Fox, 1969). Diaries and epitaphs are examples of these.

Inadvertent sources supply information for your historical study even though that was not original intention of the source. Inadvertent sources present the great task of making accurate inferences to interpret the material.

Good and Scates (1972) give two broad divisions which classify existing historical sources. These are: (1) reports of events called documents, which are composed of impressions have been consciously recorded with the aim of transmitting information. (2) Physical objects or written materials of historical value; these are called remains or relics and are produced without deliberately aiming to impart information.

Van Delan (1979) enumerates the types of historical records which may be available in written, pictorial, and mechanical forms.

1. Photographs2. Paintings3. Official records4. Personal records5. Oral traditions 6. Pictorial records7. Sculpture8. Movies9. Slides10. Coins

Also published newspapers, journals, pamphlets, literary and philosophical records of speeches and reading activities.

The possibility of interviewing people, of capturing their memories and

interrogating them for information, has been a resource available only to

historians working on the recent past. The use of oral history has helped to

recover the history of those who may not have left written records behind

or who were in other ways silent. The history of working-class lives, for

example, has been better brought to life by oral history. Securing the best evidence from the persons who were directly participants

in or observers of the actual event of objects. When you get the testimony of this first-hand source, you will note that one mind, that of the originally happened, and you, the user of the information.

3. Criticizing your source materials

To detect whether a document is unintentionally erroneous or deliberately produced to misinform.

A remain is genuine unless you have tried by scientific means to determine how reliable and trustworthy it is. This means that you need to apply meticulous external and internal criticisms to your source materials.

4. Writing the Research Report

The writing of historical research has to be a little freer so as to allow subjective interpretation of the data. (This by no means implies distortion of truth).

There are several board ways of reporting historical investigation as follows :o The researcher can report the historical facts as answers to different

research questions. Answer to each question could be reported in a separate chapter.

o He / she can present the facts in a chronological order with each chapter pertaining to a specific historical period chronologically.

o Report can also written in a thematic manner where each chapter deals with a specific theme / topic.

o Chapters could also deal with each state of India or each district of an Indian state separately.

o Chapter could also pertain to specific historical persons separately.o The researcher can also combine two or more of these approaches

while writing the research report. In addition, the report should contain a chapter each on introduction,

methodology, review of related literature, findings, the researcher’s interpretations and reflections on the interpretative process.

E. Criticizing Your Source Materials Evidence – looks at the problem from the viewpoint of the data Criticism – regard the same problem from the psychological attitude of the

researcher

External Evidence or External Criticism

Question: “Is it genuine?”

Seeks to determine whether the document that has come to the researcher`s hands or the artifact that claims attention is genuinely valid primary data.

Important for the credibility of the research.

Internal Evidence or Internal Criticism

Questions

“What does it mean?” “What was the author attempting to say?” “What thought was the author trying to convey?” “What inferences or interpretation could be extracted from the words?”

External and Internal Criticisma. External (Lower) Criticism

Asks if the evidence under consideration is authentic Involves techniques Theoretically, the main purpose of external criticism is the

establishment of historical truth, in reality its actual operation is chiefly restricted to the negative role i.e. to identity and expose forgeries, frauds, hoaxes desertions and counterfeits.

In other words, it examines the document and its external features rather than the statements it contains. It tries to determine whether (a) the information it contains was available at the time the document was written? (b) this information is consistent with what is known about the author or the period from another source?

Ex. Authentication of signatures, chemical analysis of paint, carbon dating of artifacts

b. Internal (Higher) Criticism Evaluating the worth of the evidence Concerned with the accuracy and meaning of the data contained

in the document. It deals answering questions such as what does it mean? What

was the author attempting to say? What thought was the author trying to convey? Is it possible that people would act in the way described in the document? Is it possible that events described

occurred so quickly? What inferences or interpretations could be extracted from these words? Do the financial data / figures mentioned in the document seem reasonable for that period in the past? What does the decision of a court mean? What do the words of the decision convey regarding the intent and the will of the count? Is there any (unintended) misinformation given in the document? Is there any evidence of deception? and so on here, the researcher needs to be very cautious so that he does not reject a statement only because the event described in the document appears to be improbable.

Best answered by comparing it with others that throw light on an event or provide further information about an event and the people and circumstances surrounding it.

F. The Strengths and Limitations Of Historical Research Historical research can only give a fractional view of the past; its knowledge is

never complete and is derived from the surviving records of a limited number of past events. It is therefore, a matter of conjecture how history can represent past events adequately. History also depends on valuable materials which are difficult to preserve.

Some scholars contend that history requires a different method and interpretation because of its elusive subject matter (the past). Then, too, it has the difficulty of critically examining the sources through which facts are ascertained. Causes of past events are also difficult to determine so that historians resort to manipulate hypothesis.

Another weakness is the absence of technical terminology in history research. This blocks the communication of ideas and information. Words and statements mean different thing to different people, culture and time.

Historians cannot agree, too, on the extent to which they can make generalizations. Some believed that they can make post-dictions about past events but it is beyond their power to predict future events.

History is life – and like the other pursuits, its contribution is to seek for the truth about people and events while its domain is the distant and recent past, it strives in its own methodology to represent a synthesis of knowledge of the past. Hopefully, this may help us make decision about our current problems with greater intelligence and economy of time and effort.

G. Sample Study

‘Taking the Long Journey’: Australian Women who served with allied countries and paramilitary organizations during the Great War

Selena Williams

On 17 February 1918, Douska Kahan who was born in Sale, Victoria in 1884, sailed from New York to Bordeaux, France to begin work with the American Red Cross. This study will examine Douska’s experiences and ‘road to war’ and that of many other independent Australian women who worked with medical and paramilitary organizations for countries other than their own, during the Great War. Some joined the medical services of England, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada while others took on humanitarian and philanthropic work using remarkable initiative and resilience in the face of living conditions that were often harsh and unrelenting. There was also the constant risk of illness or injury from shell fire and if working on a hospital ship, from mines and torpedoes. This thesis will explore the circumstances around the war service and ‘road to war’ of this largely undocumented group of women, to examine factors that governed their war service in England, Serbia, France, Belgium and Egypt. Why did these independent women serve for a country other than Australia? How did they deal with patriarchal controls, both private and political? This thesis will use standard social, cultural and women’s history methodology to examine the pattern of female travel, class, social and religious background and the gendered division of labor and gender and war. It will therefore ask to what degree, the motivations and war service of these women was guided by value-systems, institutional practices and traditions. By undertaking a transnational study of political, economic, social and cultural factors, this study will show if war service expanded or restricted the identities of these women. Was their war service valued and by whom, or was as it hidden behind the exploits of the ‘digger’ and the profoundly masculine Anzac Legend that developed when the war ended?

H. ReferencesAry, D., & Jacobs, L. (2009). Types of Qualitative Research. In Introduction to

Research in Education (8th ed., p. 468). Cengage Learning.

Consuelo G. Sevilla et. Al (1988). Introduction to Research Methods (pg. 42-68)

Delos Reyes, A.M. (2003). A Historical Study on the Growth and Development of the Elementary Department of Colegio De San Juan Letran, Manila 1971-2001: An Initial Attempt. Philippine Normal University, Taft Ave., Manila

Leedy, P. (1993). The Historical Study. In Practical Research: Planning and Design (5th ed., pp. 224-225). Macmillan Publishing Company.

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