HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Right from your primary school, you have known that history is the study of the past. Therefore
a historical research consists of the studies of the past happenings.

 In this process of searching for the amount of what happened in the past, the historian may reveal several interacting factors that contributed to a particular event within a specific context of time and space occurring. 

Historical studies highlight some causal relationships of past events and unearth the background for the purpose of understanding the social phenomena both past and the present. It means that the understanding of our past will help us to develop better perceptions of the dynamics of the present times. 

History is a study of the road for the march of progress indicating the nature of advance in socio-economic and political contexts. According to Borg (1963) historical research can be seen as the systematic and objective location, evaluation and synthesis of evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about past events.

 Main Features of Historical Research

Historical method of research otherwise called „historiography has some unique features that make it count as a method of scientific inquiry.

These features are:

• It aims at developing knowledge of past events within a particular framework of time and social – political, economic and cultural context. As a historical researcher, you attach importance to the meaning of specific events which have already occurred and explain their casual relationships on the basis of the analysis of the existing data. 
• You dig into the significant data that tell us about the past events. You do not have any control over data because you are studying situations that do not exist in the  present. You have to consider every piece of information of the past which are relevant to your problem of investigation for analysis. 
• Historical research is conducted based on the analysis of all the known information related to the research problem. 
• Data concerning the past events are available through different sources. These sources are classified into primary and secondary sources. Before we go on let look at these. 

(A) Primary sources of Historical data.

These provide first hand information about the past events. They include direct observation and reporting a recording of experiences. Other primary sources include:

• Personal primary sources such as personal direct observation of events which the participated in the past.
• Physical artifacts like collections in museum or evidence of historical spots,relics, remains etc.
• Mechanical artifacts like films, video, audio and photographs 
• Records written by actual participants or observers in the form autobiographies, charters, court decisions, official minute or record deeds, wills, permits, licenses,certificates, bills, receipts, maps, pictures, paintings etc.

 (B) Secondary Sources of data:

These involve second-hand information about past events. The person giving the information is neither a participant nor an eye witness of events. The information can be in the form of written materials such as newspaper articles, magazine, books, research reports etc. You have to note that secondary sources of data are usually of limited worth because of the errors which result when information is passed on from one person to another.

•  Another major feature of historical research is the evaluation of data. Doubts can be  raised about the validity, reliability and relevance of the data. The process of evaluation is called historical criticism. This can be external or internal criticism. External criticism is concerned with testing the authenticity of the sources of data, while the internal criticism is concerned with the verification of the content of the data.