HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Historical research is the process of systematically examining past events or

combinations of events to arrive at an account of what has happened in the past (Berg,
1998). In constructing this account, it is important to realize that historical research
involves much more than an accumulation of facts, dates, figures, or a description of
past events, people, or developments. Historical research is interpretative. Its
presentation is much more than the mere retelling of past facts. Instead it is a flowing,
fluid, dynamic account of past events that attempts to recapture the complex nuances,
individual personalities, and ideas that influenced the events being investigated.
In this type of research, this does not mean that the historical researcher does
not use incidents, facts, dates, and figures. Rather, the historical researcher uses this
type of information but also attempts to reconstruct and present the facts and figures in
a way that communicates an understanding of the events from the multiple points of
view of those who participated in them. In presenting these multiple points of view, the
historians own interpretation is also very much a part of history. Historians openly
acknowledge their own biases in a way few other scholars do.
Significance of Historical Research
Berg (1998) has identified five reasons for conducting historical research:
1. To uncover the unknown
2. To answer questions
3. To identify the relationship that the past has to the present
4. To record and evaluate the accomplishments of individuals, agencies, or institutions
5. To aid in our understanding of the culture in which we live
Historical Research Methodology
These are the methods on how to conduct a historical research:
1. Identification of the Research Topic and Formulation of the Research Problem
or Question

This first step is to identify a topic you wish to investigate and then formulate
the research problem or question you wish to answer.
2. Data Collection or Literature Review
This next step is to identify the sources that will contain information about
your research topic and then locate these sources. In historical research, the
information you seek may be contained in documents, records, photographs, relics,
and interviews rather than in professional journals and books. Another source is the
oral histories or oral records. These are interviews with a person who has had
direct or indirect experience with or knowledge of the chosen topic.
As you locate and acquire the data needed to prepare your narrative of the
topic or event you have selected to research, you need to classify these sources as
primary and secondary. A primary source is a source in which the creator was a
direct witness or in some other way directly involved or related to the event. A
secondary source is a source that was created from primary sources, secondary
sources, or some combination of the two.
3. Evaluation of Historical Sources
In a research, the researcher should evaluate his or her data to support their
research titles. To support their titles, every source must be evaluated in terms of
external and internal criticism:
External Criticism
External criticism refers to the validity, trustworthiness, or authenticity of the
source. The validity of documents or other sources can be easily established by
handwriting; age of the paper on which the documents are written; signatures; and,
particularly, if they have been filed, collected, and archived under the name of the
authors.
Internal Criticism
Internal criticism is the reliability or accuracy of the information contained in
the sources collected. In making an assessment of reliability or accuracy, the
educational historian must first engage in positive critism (Christy, 1975)

Positive Criticism
Positive critism ensures that the statements made or the meaning
conveyed in the sources is correct. The statement means that the educational
historian must be sure that he or she understands the statements made or the
meaning conveyed in the various sources. In this type of critism, the historical
researcher may be experience some problems in understanding his or her data.
These are the vagueness and presentism. Vagueness refers to uncertainty in
the meaning of words or phrases. Presentism refers to the assumption that the
present-day connotations of terms also existed in the past.

Negative Criticism
Once the researcher has satisfied the criterion of positive critism, he or
she moves to the phase of negative critism. N