HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Historical method in education has been in use in the past to a greater extent than any other method of research, during the development of educational research. Historical method of research is also called the documentary research as it makes use of historical documents and other records. It relates to the historical technique of research where historical records, documents and relics are made use of in dealing with problems on hand recounting some aspects of past life and critical research for truth is made in the light of past events. Historical research may be defined as the study of problems of education making use of historical source and techniques in order to evolve universal generalization and principles. Historical research is the application of scientific method of inquiry to historical problems. It demands standards of careful methodology and spirit comparable to those which characterize other types of research. Although everyone is a historian in that, he remembers what occurred in the past, such history does not meet the criteria of historical research. It is to be a science and it must achieve some standards of excellence as other forms of research.

Purpose and values of historical research. 1. The foremost purpose is to gain a clear perspective of the past and the present. The present problems are understandable only on the basis of past. 2. It provides us with a greater appreciation of the culture and of the role which education is to play in the progress of society. 3. This study provides important information concerning the effects of certain past educational practices and may suggest programmes for future action, based upon the evaluation of the past experiences. 4. It helps avoiding making mistakes of the past. 5. Such approach makes it easier to recognise and identify significant factors in the existing complex situation. 6. It enables us to understand the dynamics of educational change. 7. It develops understanding of the deep-rooted causes of the present day educational problems. 8. It develops our ability to locate, analyse and appraise historical evidence and to understand the limitations of this evidence. 9. It helps remove educational prejudice, misconceptions of facts. 10. It is a necessary foundation for any educational reform. 11. It enlightens us as to how the functions and roles of social institutions have shifted from time to time. 12. It inspires respect for sound scholarship and reverence for great teachers. Moreover the history of education seeks to answer three important questions, i.e., the question of evaluation, the question of resemblance and the question of value.

Types of historical research. 1. Bibliographic research. It aims at determining and presenting truthfully the important facts about the life, character and achievements of important educators. 2. Legal research. It aims to study the legal basis of educational institutions run by the different religions and castes, relation between central and state governments with regards to education, legal status of teachers and students, administration of private aided schools, school finance, participation of students in the administration of universities etc. 3. Studying the history of ideas. It involves the tracing of major philosophical or scientific thoughts from their origins through their different stages of development. 4. Studying the history of institutions and organizations. Studying the history of some prominent schools, universities and other educational institutions also provide numerous problems for significant historical research. Steps in historical research. 1. Selecting the problem. The investigator should have a clear mind about problem. The problem should be significant. It should be one which cam be solved through research. He should formulate it in simple terms. If the problem is very vast, it should be delimited. He should have familiarity with previous research in the field. He should see that duplicity does not take place.

Formulation of hypothesis. The hypothesis that the researcher constructs for historical research are useful in explaining events, conditions or phenomena of the historical period in question. 3. Collection of data. As compared to other method, collection of data in this method is difficult. Historical data has to e inclusive. It will create a lot of confusion. So researcher has to be on guard against it. He has to propose a number of headings into which the data may be classified. The efforts of the historian in the collection of data are seriously handicapped because of many difficulties. 1. He has not lived at the time and is thus removed from the events that he investigates. Therefore he must draw his data from the experiences and observations of others. 2. The recorded experiences are available in their exaggerated form and are full of superfluous details. 3. The recorded experiences may be written form and out-dated point of view and do not suit present day requirements. 4. The records which have been destroyed cannot be created over again. The available records are incomplete and otherwise defective in several ways. 5. The historical data are not comparable to the materials of the physical sciences. They have to be reconstructed in many cases from unverifiable source. Sources of history. Good has classified 2 sources of history, i.e., documents and remains of relics. In documents we do not see events ourselves but in remains the event is before us. The following is the list of documents: 1. Legislative acts such as laws etc 2. Court decisions. 3. Reports of committee. 4. Proceedings of officers like NCERT. 5. Reports of commissions like Kothari Commission. 6. Newspapers and periodicals. 7. Autobiographies, letters, novels etc. Following is the list of remains: 1. School buildings, furniture etc. 2. Photographs of teachers, children and parents. 3. Forms of certificates, attendance sheets etc. 4. Textbooks, exercise books etc. Primary and secondary sources:

Historical sources are of 2 kinds: a. Primary sources. Primary sources are the original sources; the first witness to a fact. Primary sources have been kept unconsciously or consciously. Tools, weapons, clothing, building, painting, coins etc are the examples of primary sources unconsciously kept. Autobiographies, letters, diaries etc are consciously kept for information. b. Secondary source. Secondary sources are the reports of the persons who reported the testimony of an actual witness. The writer of the secondary source was not on the scene of the event. Secondary sources are not trusted completely, but they serve some useful purpose.

Historical criticism. The historians does not often use the methods of direct observation since he gets much of his data from the reports of those who witnessed or participated in these events, the data is subject to historical criticism. It consists of 2 parts as under: a. External criticism. Through external criticism, the historian checks the validity of the document and determine whether it is admissible as an evidence. For this purpose, he asks many questions. 1. Why was the document produced? 2. When was the document produced? 3. Who was the author of the document? 4. Is the language author’s? etc b. Internal criticism. After external criticism, the historian tries to find out the accuracy or worth of the document. Following questions come to his mind: 1. Was the writer competent, unbiased, honest and actually acquainted with the fact? 2. Was he subject to fear, pressure or vanity? 3. How long after the event did he make a record of his testimony I was he able to remember what happened actually? M.A. Edu/Research Methodology/Methods © Showkat Rashid Wani, Assistant Professor, DDE, KU, 190002, J&K 3 4. Is the witness in agreement with other competent witness? Internal criticism can be of positive nature or negative nature. When we attempt to seek the true and real meaning of the text, it is called positive criticism. When we attempt to seek every possible reason for disbelieving the statement, it is called negative criticism. 5. Interpretation of data. The interpretation of data is complicated in historical research. Since history is actually a record of the chain of related events, it becomes very difficult for a researcher to interpret that one event in the chain was caused by the previous event in the chain. Here determining cause and effect relationship too is a difficult job. The researcher must be cautious in his use of analogy in the interpretation of data. While drawing comparison between one historical event and any number of others, he must carefully make use of similarities as well as of differences. 6. Writing of research report. In historical method due consideration must be given to the historical perspective and future perspective. The reporting of historical research should imbibe the good qualities of historical narrative. Sufficient care should be taken in the selection and organization of the material to be presented. There are different methods of organising historical research material. The following types are but suggestions: a. The chronological. b. The topical. c. The thematic. d. The foundational. The method of organisation of material depends on the nature of data gathered and efficient and effective report, however, depends on the integrity and scholastic ability of the researcher. The style of writing research report should be lucid, simple, objective, designed scholarly and intelligible for the report to be effective. It should reflect historical accuracy, possess historical authenticity and should be based on historical evidence obtained.