WHY PEOPLE RESEARCH HISTORY

Why People Research History

Why People Research History

Introduction

Historical research, like ex post facto in quantitative research, is the examination of data that already exists. Though we have put historical research in the qualitative section, you will most likely have both numeric and non-numeric data. A current oral history project is the Story Corp project. This project focuses on people interviewing each other about a topic of interest. For example, you could interview your parents on how they met and decided to get married. One of our favorite historical research projects, which could also be an ethnography, is “An Infinity of Little Hours” by Nancy Maguire. This story is about five men who entered the Carthusian order and is set as a mystery about who remains in the order. It is a historical analysis of their entry, but the story is much later than when the events occurred. One could argue that it is an ethnography because there appears to be a concerted effort to understand the values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the order and the individuals in the order. This paper discusses the reasons of why people research history.

Discussion

Historiography involves far more than the mere retelling of facts from the past. It is more than linking together tired old pieces of information found in diaries, letters, or other documents, important as such an activity might be. Historical research is at once descriptive, factual, and fluid. Historical research is not merely creative nostalgia. In fact, it is important to distinguish nostalgia from historical research. Various methods may be used when undertaking historiography, but all are informed by a theory or theories that provide a set of parameters that focus on asking about history as it unfolds, particularly the relationship between people, events, phenomena, and the historical situations that create history. In effect, the process of historiography does not occur in a theoretical vacuum but examines the social contours of history in a kind of praxis (action) analysis and narration. (Matejski, 2006)

Historical research help people get historical thinking skills which include chronological thinking, historical analysis and interpretation, and historical research capabilities. These skills allow them to use the methods of historians and to identify and analyze current problems facing us today. Notter (2002) summarized the importance of historical research for nurses when she studied nursing's claim to professional status by examining classifications of American nurses as professional and nonprofessional from 1919 to 1930. (Notter, 2002)

The major impetus in historical research, as with other data-collection strategies, is the collection of information and the interpretation or analysis of the data. As with the example of getting to know your date, a basic assumption underlying historical research is that you can learn about the present from the past. A hundred years ago, the word nurse conjured up images of handmaidens and subservient clinical helpers to physicians. Today, however, one envisions nurses as healthcare professionals—members of a team that includes physicians. (McDowell, 2002)

This is likewise true regarding different cultures and ...