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What is historical research.
Historical research or historiography , "attempts to systematically recapture the complex nuances, the people,meanings,events,and even ideas of the past that have influenced and shaped the present". (Berg & Lure, 2012, p. 305 )
Historical research relies on a wide variety of sources, both primary & secondary including unpublished material.
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Historical research involves the following steps:
(Berg & Lune, 2012, p.311)
In addition to raw data and unpublished manuscripts, libraries also hold back copies of journals and newspapers.
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Finding Primary Sources Online
Secondary Sources
Archives and Manuscripts
About the libraries :
38 special collections of various sorts across the libraries
History/History of Science Research Guides for Harvard Library:
HOLLIS is Harvard's online search engine for our physical and online collections. There are two different options for searching :
Books vs Articles: HOLLIS for books; for known articles. Other databases often better for searching articles.
HOLLIS Search example
Getting Books once you’ve found they exist
Show only – Display -- Harvard Direct -- Scan&Deliver -- Borrow Direct -- ILL (scans of archival material : Explained on guides ( Getting What You Need section )
You can limit to Show only: Online , BUT ):
Background & Context
Reference entries: HOLLIS Everything Advanced Search: topic as Title, Refine to Resource Type: Reference entries. Example
Whole books: Your topic AND KW: encyclopedias OR Dictionaries OR handbooks OR companion (OR must be in caps). Example
Current vs. contemporary encyclopedias :
If a word was used differently in past, helps to look at older dictionaries
Harvard E-Resources
Three ways to find
Secondary Sources pages of History of Science & History guides
Four major databases for secondary sources:
Types of Primary Sources - Outline of general historical primary sources with links to research guides and sample HOLLIS searches
Finding Articles
For history of science, HOLLIS Everything good for known items, books and book reviews. Better off in other places for articles.
Periodical types
PubMed 1946- .
MESH (Example: for shell shock use Combat disorders)
Index Catalogue pre 1946 (some overlap) We have instructions
Mainly for full text searching and for finding early articles.
You can search the "Notes and News" sections of journals (Science is especially rich in this material) in JSTOR. Also Recent Literature sections (e.g., Recent Literature section in American Journal of Sociology)
Notes & News sections are sometimes dropped from other databases.
Search: Curie 1921-1922 in Science
Web of science Science, 1900- ; Social Science, 1900- ; Arts/Humanities, 1975- .
Cited Reference search: Forbes sa 1887-1925
Use to revivify old bibliographies
Archives sections in history of science guides will lead to special collections within and outside Harvard
Other Boston area repositories
General Guide
If you can specify exactly what you want ILL and obtain the cost from the repository, ILL will chip in $$ for scanning. Do a request for scanning an article and put the info in the notes field; this opens the negotiation
Many US government documents in HathiTrust
WorldCat (the OCLC Union Catalog).
A collective catalog holding records from over 75,000 libraries worldwide but largely U.S. Includes books, periodicals, archives and manuscripts, maps, videotapes, computer readable files, etc. Includes Boston-area libraries. Importance :
Subject Bibliographies
Look for specialized subject bibliographies in the HOLLIS Library Catalog: <ornithology [Keyword search] and bibliography [Subject search]>. On Advanced Search screen.
“Bibliography” has to be Subject search)
Also many online. Listed in guides, especially Specialized HistSci
Other Research Guides
Harvard guides
Google Advanced Search
Digital Libraries
Harvard Library E-Resources
HathiTrust and Internet Archive
HathiTrust Advanced Full Text search -- Sample: “lake as a microcosm” See its citation history.
General and historical digital libraries -- History of Science digital libraries
DPLA and state lists
Biographical Sources
Biographical sections on history of science guides.There is a separate guide for general biography
World Biographical Information System
Specialized sources guide has regular biographical section for various disciplines
Citation and Research Management Tools at Harvard:
Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy
"balancing" the history scales, history scholarship vs. history propogands, primary sources, secondary sources, grey area sources.
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A primary source is first hand evidence. It was there at the time of an event.
A primary source is contemporary to the period being studied.
Examples of primary sources are: speeches, letters, comics/cartoons, songs, legislation, court decisions, journals/diaries, interviews, artifacts, autobiographies, statistics, experiments, and photographs.
Secondary sources interpret original documents and give you background information about the topic you want to research.
Examples of secondary sources are: articles, dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks and books that interpret or review research works.
Sometimes secondary sources can become primary sources. It all depends on how you are using the source.
If you use the source as supporting material for your argument and you are not interpreting the author's intentions or societal influences, it is a secondary source. However, if you use the source as an example for your argument and are interpreting the material, it is a primary source.
For example, if you are doing research on the current economic crisis and you are using newspaper articles to cite what the situation is (such as the banks declaring bankruptcy, unemployment, etc.), the articles are secondary sources. On the other hand, if you are doing research on the economic crisis in the 1930s and discussing the climate of the time, the articles become primary sources.
Common grey areas of historic research include:
All materials from: Historiography: Ramapo College, https://libguides.ramapo.edu/HIST201rice
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Methods and sources for historical research.
This course aims to equip historical researchers with the skills they will need to find and gain access to all the primary source materials they need for their projects. Over the course of a week (Mon-Fri), participants will learn, through an intensive programme of lectures and visits to repositories in and around London, how to combine online tools and traditional archival search techniques to locate and obtain evidence
Original research on primary sources lies at the heart of the historian’s enterprise, yet the techniques necessary to locate and obtain archival materials are rarely taught and can be hard to acquire.
The aim of Methods and Sources for Historical Research is to equip researchers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to track down and use all the sources relevant to their projects, wherever they are to be found, be that in published form, online or in repositories. It does this through an intensive mixed programme of lectures and visits over the course of a week.
The first day is spent in the IHR: a series of lectures will first explore the epistemological and hermeneutic status of primary evidence for historians before turning to a detailed explanation of the legal and institutional structures of record-keeping and museology in the UK and the rest of the world. On a practical level, the various printed and electronic aids to finding and accessing primary materials will be introduced and students will be shown how to combine these to retrieve all the sources pertinent to a given line of research quickly, efficiently and comprehensively.
After the first day, the rest of the week is devoted to a programme of visits to archives, libraries and repositories around London. In each case there will be a short formal presentation introducing the collections, finding aids and material of particular use, followed by a more informal opportunity for students to explore and to discuss their needs in detail with the archivists. The schedule of visits has been designed both to introduce participants to all of the principal national repositories (the British Library, the National Archives, the Parliamentary Archives et al ), but also, by including smaller and more specialised institutions, to reflect the range and diversity of archives likely to be encountered in a research career. The exact composition of the institutions visited varies on each occasion that Methods and Sources runs: the large national bodies are always included, but the smaller specialised institutions are rotated to give a distinct flavour to each course.
Please note that the course will sometimes involve entering archival buildings which may present difficulties to those with access problems. We will do our utmost to ensure that this will not prevent us from welcoming all comers, but if you think this may be an issue do please let us know so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
_______________________________________________________________
Please note that this course will be taking place in-person only, and that the number of places available is limited.
*In order to provide an interactive, dynamic short course experience the IHR requires a minimum number of delegates to run the short course. If a course is cancelled due to low enrolment, delegates will be offered the option of a refund or a transfer on to a different date.
Course fees.
Fees 2024/25 academic year
Dates : 28 October - 1 November 2024: 10:00 – 17:00
Lunch will be provided on the first day of the course in Senate House.
IHR, Senate House and archives, libraries and repositories around London
If you have any enquiries relating to this course, please contact the IHR Events Office: [email protected]
Register today.
Places are limited and offered on a first come basis
The IHR offers a wide range of training courses for historians at all career stages, from digital research and oral history to archives and publishing.
Latest events, seminars, workshops, public lectures and training from the Institute of Historical Research
Published by Alvin Nicolas at August 16th, 2021 , Revised On August 29, 2023
History is a study of past incidents, and it’s different from natural science. In natural science, researchers prefer direct observations. Whereas in historical research, a researcher collects, analyses the information to understand, describe, and explain the events that occurred in the past.
They aim to test the truthfulness of the observations made by others. Historical researchers try to find out what happened exactly during a certain period of time as accurately and as closely as possible. It does not allow any manipulation or control of variables .
You can use historical research method to:
Historical research involves the following steps:
Step 1 – select the research topic.
If you want to conduct historical research, it’s essential to select a research topic before beginning your research. You can follow these tips while choosing a topic and developing a research question .
It is essential to collect data and facts about the research question to get reliable outcomes. You need to select an appropriate instrument for data collection . Historical research includes two sources of data collection, such as primary and secondary sources.
Primary sources are the original first-hand resources such as documents, oral or written records, witnesses to a fact, etc. These are of two types, such as:
Conscious Information : It’s a type of information recorded and restored consciously in the form of written, oral documents, or the actual witnesses of the incident that occurred in the past.
It includes the following sources:
Records Government documents Images autobiographies letters | Constitiutions Court-decisions Diaries Audios Videos | Wills Declarations Licenses Reports |
Unconscious information : It’s a type of information restored in the form of remains or relics.
It includes information in the following forms:
Fossils Tools Weapons Household articles Clothes or any belonging of humans | Language literature Artifacts Abandoned places Monuments |
Sometimes it’s impossible to access primary sources, and researchers rely on secondary sources to obtain information for their research.
It includes:
After collecting the information, you need to analyse it. You can use data analysis methods like
Data criticism is a process used for identifying the validity and reliability of the collected data. It’s of two types such as:
It aims at identifying the external features of the data such as signature, handwriting, language, nature, spelling, etc., of the documents. It also involves the physical and chemical tests of paper, paint, ink, metal cloth, or any collected object.
It aims at identifying the meaning and reliability of the data. It focuses on the errors, printing, translation, omission, additions in the documents. The researchers should use both external and internal criticism to ensure the validity of the data.
While presenting the findings of your research , you need to ensure that you have met the objectives of your research or not. Historical material can be organised based on the theme and topic, and it’s known as thematic and topical arrangement. You can follow these tips while writing your research paper :
Your research aims not just to collect information as these are the raw materials of research. You need to build a strong argument and narrate the details of past events or incidents based on your findings.
You can review the literature and other researchers’ contributions to the topic you’ve chosen to enhance your thinking and argument.
After putting your findings on a paper, you need to proofread it to weed out the errors, rewrite it to improve, and edit it thoroughly before submitting it.
We hear you.
In this world of technology, many people rely on Google to find out any information. All you have to do is enter a few keywords and sit back. You’ll find several relevant results onscreen.
It’s an effective and quick way of gathering information. Sometimes historical documents are not accessible to everyone online, and you need to visit traditional libraries to find out historical treasures. It will help you explore your knowledge along with data collection.
You can visit historical places, conduct interviews, review literature, and access primary and secondary data sources such as books, newspapers, publications, documents, etc. You can take notes while collecting the information as it helps to organise the data accurately.
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
It is easy to calculate and understand the obtained information. It is applied to various time periods based on industry custom. It helps in understanding current educational practices, theories, and problems based on past experiences. It helps in determining when and how a specific incident exactly happened in the past. | A researcher cannot control or manipulate the variables. It’s time-consuming Researchers cannot affect past incidents. Historical Researchers need to rely on the available data most excessively on secondary data. Researchers cannot conduct surveys and experiments in the past. |
What are the initial steps to perform historical research.
Initial steps for historical research:
The authenticity of dissertation is largely influenced by the research method employed. Here we present the most notable research methods for dissertation.
You can transcribe an interview by converting a conversation into a written format including question-answer recording sessions between two or more people.
Baffled by the concept of reliability and validity? Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement. Validity refers to the accuracy of measurement.
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Easter Island’s supposed population collapse is debunked by recent findings, showing it supported a stable population of around 3,000 through innovative farming methods despite limited resources.
Historians have theorized that the ancient people of Easter Island lived beyond their ecological means, cutting down all their trees to build massive stone statues. The population crashed along with the environment, dwindling to a few thousand people by the time Europeans “discovered” Easter Island in 1722.
However, a new study published in Science Advances has debunked this persistent myth, revealing that there were never many people on Rapa Nui to begin with.
Binghamton researchers used modern technology to more accurately gauge the number of rock gardens on the island and Rapa Nui’s pre-contact food production. Co-authors include Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Science Carl Lipo; Environmental Studies Research Development Specialist Robert J. DiNapoli; and anthropology alumnus Dylan S. Davis ’17, MA ‘18, now a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University ’s Climate School.
The volcanic island was formed from eruptions a million years ago, giving the rain ample time to wash away the potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen plants need to grow, said Lipo. The salt-laden ocean spray further hurt soil fertility.
“The soils on Rapa Nui were never particularly productive,” Lipo explained. “When people reached the island, they had to deal with those constraints.”
Their first method was slash-and-burn agriculture, which involved cutting down the island’s trees. This temporarily returned nutrients to the soil, but once the trees ran out, the islanders resorted to other methods: composting plant waste and rock mulch.
The fertility benefits of composting aren’t enough to support a culture’s food supply. Rock mulch did — but it was a highly labor-intensive process. Islanders broke off parts of the exposed bedrock and then turned these chunks of stones into the soil, which both restored nutrients and protected it from further weathering.
Rock mulch has been traditionally used in other places, such as among the Maori people in New Zealand, Indigenous peoples in the American Southwest, and in the Netherlands, Lipo said.
“We do it ourselves with non-organic fertilizer; essentially, we use machines to crush rock into tiny pieces, which is effective because it exposes a lot of surface area,” Lipo said. “The people in Rapa Nui are doing it by hand, literally breaking up rocks and sticking them in dirt.”
While the gardens could grow dry-land taro and yams, the primary crop was sweet potatoes of dozens of different varieties, DiNapoli said. Not every rock pile is an ancient garden, however.
When they first encountered the island, Europeans reported that gardens covered 10% of the land. Researchers have previously relied on satellite imagery to map rock gardens, but that resulted in misidentifications — including, for example, roads.
Davis used shortwave infrared (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to generate a more accurate estimate: around 180 acres were covered by mulching stones, much less than previously believed. Primarily used for geological mapping, SWIR imagery can differentiate between mineral compositions and moisture content, Davis said. The distinct mineralogical characteristics and moisture patches allow the rock gardens to stand out better from their surroundings.
Using the updated estimate of the number of gardens, the researchers calculated that approximately 3,000 people lived on Rapa Nui at the time of European contact. The earliest European accounts indicate a population of 3,000 to 4,000 people, which tracks with the artifacts discovered on the island, Lipo said.
“What we’re actually seeing here is that the island couldn’t sustain that many people to begin with based on ecological constraints,” Davis said. “People actually modified their landscapes to increase the amount of what they could intensively cultivate and that number was still very small. This isn’t an example of ecological catastrophe but of how people survived despite really limited natural resources in a fairly sustainable way for a long time.”
The misconceptions about the island’s population size come from its large and striking moai statues, Lipo said, and the assumption that it would take large groups of people to erect such statues. Ecologists also tend to use Easter Island as a model for how population size can lead to ecological catastrophe.
“We can’t use Easter Island as an example that’s convenient for stories,” he said. “We need to understand the island in its own context because what it’s really telling us is something very different than what people believe.”
For more on this research, see Debunking the “Ecocide” Myth: The Real Story of Easter Island .
Reference: “Island-wide characterization of agricultural production challenges the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island)” by Dylan S. Davis, Robert J. DiNapoli, Gina Pakarati, Terry L. Hunt and Carl P. Lipo, 21 June 2024, Science Advances . DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado1459
Also contributing to the research were Gina Pakarati, an independent researcher on Rapa Nui; and Terry L. Hunt of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology.
Resilience, not collapse: what the easter island myth gets totally wrong, new fossil discovery of a distinct, ancient human species points to complicated evolutionary process, new research reveals easter island had a cooperative community, 400,000 year old fossil helps shed new light on human evolution, tuscan shipwreck gives clues of ancient eye treatment, stone blades suggest that early humans passed on technological skills, ancient murals in guatemala offer glimpse of mayan astronomy, million-year-old ash in south african cave yields evidence of cooking, humans implicated in africa’s deforestation 3,000 years ago.
“Popular Myth Debunked: New Findings Rewrite Easter Island’s History”
This is all wrong. You are using “debunk” incorrectly. Here is a definition: “Uncover while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas”.
Jared Diamond in his book “Collapse” hypothesized that the reason the Easter Island culture collapsed was because they cut down all their trees. Look at the pictures above. They indeed cut down all their trees. This is not a pretentious claim to be ridiculed.
So some Brits come along and say well, they made do without trees. Well hell. That’s a new hypothesis only. There’s nothing to debunk.
I live in an area, the Desert Southwest of the United States, where, in Diamond’s book, it is claimed the Pueblo Native American civilization collapsed because of environmental stresses. That is not a pretentious claim. Diamond never claimed civilizations that do collapse are totally wiped out and the land left barren with no one returning.
Although many large settlements were abandoned, the Pueblo people continued to live in the Southwest, adapting to new environments and forming the modern-day Pueblo communities that still exist today.
Btw, the Brits, true to form, stole several Moai statues from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) that were brought to the British Museum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The British “explorers” are to be scorned. They are ecological and environmental outlaws. The British Museum is full of plunder from round the world.
Another example, the Elgin Marbles a collection of marble sculptures originally part of the Parthenon temple in Athens which were controversially stolen by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century and later acquired by the British Museum. They still have them despite Melina Mercouri’s heroic efforts to get them back to the Acropolis.
Howard Carter cleaned out King Tut’s tomb in the 1930s. Fortunately, the Egyptians have those artifacts, including what’s left of Tut, back. (Carter unwrapped the mummy thus contaminating it forever).
The “popular myth debunked” by science was actually a hypothesis created by earlier scientists. Nice try.
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Title: projective techniques in consumer research: a mixed methods-focused review and empirical reanalysis.
Abstract: This article gives an integrative review of research using projective methods in the consumer research domain. We give a general historical overview of the use of projective methods, both in psychology and in consumer research applications, and discuss the reliability and validity aspects and measurement for projective techniques. We review the literature on projective techniques in the areas of marketing, hospitality & tourism, and consumer & food science, with a mixed methods research focus on the interplay of qualitative and quantitative techniques. We review the use of several quantitative techniques used for structuring and analyzing projective data and run an empirical reanalysis of previously gathered data. We give recommendations for improved rigor and for potential future work involving mixed methods in projective techniques.
Subjects: | Methodology (stat.ME) |
classes: | G.3; J.4; I.5.3; I.5.4 |
Cite as: | [stat.ME] |
(or [stat.ME] for this version) | |
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Historical research is the process of investigating and studying past events, people, and societies using a variety of sources and methods. This type of research aims to reconstruct and interpret the past based on the available evidence. Types of Historical Research. There are several types of historical research, including: Descriptive Research
Historical method
For almost all historical topics, however, libraries filled with printed books and journals will remain the principal tools for research, just as museums will continue to be essential to any work dealing with the material culture of past science. The reason for this is simple: what is on the internet is the result of decisions by people in the ...
Offers practical step-by-step guidance on how to do historical research, taking readers from initial questions to final publication. Connects new digital technologies to the traditional skills of the historian. Draws on hundreds of examples from a broad range of historical topics and approaches. Shares tips for researchers at every skill level.
Introduction to Historical Research : Home - Research Guides
HIS 250: Historical Methods - Research Guides
A wide-ranging critical survey of methods for historical research at all levels Historians have become increasingly sensitive to social and cultural theory since the 1980s, yet the actual methods by which research is carried out in History have been largely taken for granted. Research Methods for History encourages those researching the past to think creatively about the wide range of methods ...
Course Description. This course examines the distinctive ways in which historians in different parts of the world have approached the task of writing history. It explores methodologies used, such as political, social, economic, cultural, and popular histories through the reading and discussion of relevant and innovative texts. It ….
Research Methods for History encourages those researching the past to think creatively about the wide range of methods currently in use, to understand how these methods are used and what historical insights they can provide. This updated new edition has been expanded to cover not only sources and methods that are well-established in History ...
The essential handbook for doing historical research inthe twenty-first century The Princeton Guide toHistorical Research provides students, scholars, andprofes...
What is Historical Research? Stephen Petrina May 2020 History— Few methods reduce to cliché as readily as history: "history is bunk," "history shows," "history teaches," "history is our guide," "that's ancient history," etc. This is partially due to different senses of history. Beard (1946) differentiates among three ...
Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence, including the evidence of archaeology, to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology.
This guide is intended as a point of departure for research in history. We also have a more selective guide with major resources only: Introductory Library Research Guide for History. Finding Primary Sources Online offers methods for finding digital libraries and digital collections on the open Web and for finding Digital Libraries/Collections ...
How Institutions Use Historical Research Methods to ...
The Shapiro Library subscribes to the SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new window database, a resource designed for those who are doing research or who are learning how to do research. Methods and practices covered include writing research questions and literature reviews, choosing research methods, conducting oral histories, and more.
A Step by Step Guide to Doing Historical Research
A Concise Companion to History edited by Ulinka Rublack, Main Stacks D13.C663 2011; Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing by Anthony Brundage, Main Stacks D16.B893 2013; Research Methods for History edited by Simon Gunn and Lucy Faire, ebook; A Short Guide to Writing about History by Richard Marius, Main Stacks D13 ...
Historical Research Method: Home
HS 303b Research Methods and Practices in the History of Science. About the libraries: 73 libraries. Widener is largest FAS library and the primary social sciences & humanities research library. Science libraries within FAS include, Botany, Zoology and Cabot (for chemistry, hysics, geology.
On the other hand, if you are doing research on the economic crisis in the 1930s and discussing the climate of the time, the articles become primary sources. Common grey areas of historic research include: Newspapers/Magazines ; Encyclopedias ; History Texts
Methods and sources for historical research. This course aims to equip historical researchers with the skills they will need to find and gain access to all the primary source materials they need for their projects. Over the course of a week (Mon-Fri), participants will learn, through an intensive programme of lectures and visits to repositories ...
Historical Research - A Guide Based on its Uses & Steps
Mastering the Markets. Teaches Strategic Decision-Making. With Renowned Instructors. Teaches Being a Band. Teaches the Power of Storytelling. Teaches Drumming & Creative Collaboration. Teach Creative Collaboration and Fashion. Critical Leadership Training. Small Habits that Make a Big Impact on Your Life.
Easter Island's supposed population collapse is debunked by recent findings, showing it supported a stable population of around 3,000 through innovative farming methods despite limited resources. Historians have theorized that the ancient people of Easter Island lived beyond their ecological means, cutting down all their trees to build ...
This article gives an integrative review of research using projective methods in the consumer research domain. We give a general historical overview of the use of projective methods, both in psychology and in consumer research applications, and discuss the reliability and validity aspects and measurement for projective techniques. We review the literature on projective techniques in the areas ...
Additional reviewer questions may be included in the solicitation if applicable to the scope of the solicitation and history of the research efforts; those additional reviewer questions should be provided by the SC Program Offices as part of the overall guidance to reviewers. ... Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach; Competency of ...