RESEARCH DESIGNS - ANALYTIC STUDIES

ANALYTICAL METHOD

It involves the identification and interpretation of data already existing in documents, pictures and artefacts. It is a form of research in which events, ideas, concepts or artefacts are examined through analysis of documents, records, recordings or other media. Here, contextual information is very essential to for an accurate interpretation of data. Historical research comprises of systematic collection and analysis of documents, records and artefacts with the objective of providing a description and interpretation of past events or persons. Its application lies in a range of research methods such as historical research which could use both quantitative and qualitative data, legal analysis which focuses on selected laws and court decisions with the objective of understanding how legal principles and precedents apply to educational practices, concept analysis which is carried out to understand the meaning and usage of educational concepts (eg. school-based reforms, ability grouping, affective teacher education) and content analysis which is carried out to understand the meaning and identify properties of large amounts of textual information in a systematic manner.

Characteristics of Analytical Research

Following are the characteristics of analytical research:

1. It does not create‘ orgenerate‘ data through research tools and techniques.

2. The topic of analytical research deals with the past.

3. It reinterprets existing data.

4. It predominantly uses primary sources for collecting data.

5. Internal and external criticism is used as a technique while searching for facts and providing interpretative explanations.

6. It uses documents, relics and oral testimonies for collecting data.

 Objectives Analytical Research

Following are the objectives of analytical research:

1. It offers understanding of the past/existing/available data.

2. It enables the researcher to shed light on existing policies by interpreting the past.

3. It generates a sense of universal justification and underlying principles and aims of education in a society.

4. It reinterprets the past for each age group.

5. It uses data and logic to analyse the past and demythologises idealized conceptions of the past. 

TYPES OF ANALYTICAL RESEARCH

HISTORICAL RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION

History usually refers simply to an account of the past of human societies. It is the study of what “can be known to the historian)… through the surviving record.” Gottschalk referred to this as ‘history as record’, He further stated that “The process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past is … called historical method. The imaginative reconstruction of the past from the data derived by that process is called historiography (the writing of history)”.

MEANING

Historical research has been defined as the systematic and objective location, evaluation and synthesis of evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about past events. It involves a critical inquiry of a previous age with the aim of reconstructing a faithful representation of the past. In historical research, the investigator studies documents and other sources that contain facts concerning the research theme with the objective of achieving better understanding of present policies, practices, problems and institutions. An attempt is made to examine past events or combinations of events and establish facts in order to arrive at conclusions concerning past events or predict future events.

Historical research is a type of analytical research. Its common methodological characteristics include

(i) identifying a research topic that addresses past events,

(ii) review of primary and secondary data,

 (iii) systematic collection and objective evaluation of data related to past occurrences with the help of techniques of criticism for historical searches and evaluation of the information and

(iv) synthesis and explanation of findings in order to test hypotheses concerning causes, effects or trends of these events that may help to explain present events and anticipate future events. Historical studies attempt to provide information and understanding of past historical, legal and policy events. The historical method consists of the techniques and guidelines by which historians use historical sources and other evidences to research and then to write history.

THE PURPOSE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Conducting historical research in education can serve several purposes as follows:

1. It enables educationists to find out solutions to contemporary problems which have their roots in the past. i.e. it serves the purpose of bringing about reforms in education. The work of a historical researcher sometimes sensitizes educators to unjust or misguided practices in the past which may have unknowingly continued into the present and require reform. A historical researcher studies the past with a detached perspective and without any ego-involvement with the past practices. Hence it could be easier for educationists to identify misguided practices thus enabling them to bring about reforms.

2. It throws light on present trends and can help in predicting future trends. If we understand how an educationist or a group of educationists acted in the past, we can predict how they will act in future. Similarly, studying the past enables a researcher to understand the factors / causes affecting present trends. In order to make such future predictions reliable and trustworthy, the historical researcher needs to identify and clearly describe in which ways the past differs from the present context and how the present social, economic and political situations and policies could have an impact on the present and the future.

3. It enables a researcher to re-evaluate data in relation to selected hypotheses, theories and generalizations that are presently held about the past.

 4. It emphasizes and analyzes the relative importance and the effect of the various interactions in the prevailing cultures.

5. It enables us to understand how and why educational theories and practices developed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH These are as follows:

1. It is not a mere accumulation of facts and data or even a portrayal of past events.

2. It is a flowing, vibrant report of past events which involves an analysis and explanation of these occurrences with the objective of recapturing the nuances, personalities and ideas that influenced these events.

3. Conducting historical research involves the process of collecting and reading the research material collected and writing the manuscript from the data collected. The researcher often goes back-and-forth between collecting, reading, and writing. i.e. the process of data collection and analysis are done simultaneously are not two distinct phases of research.

4. It deals with discovery of data that already exists and does not involve creation of data using structured tools.

5. It is analytical in that it uses logical induction.

6. It has a variety of foci such as issues, events, movements and concepts.

7. It records and evaluates the accomplishments of individuals, agencies or institutions

SCOPE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

1. General educational history of specific periods such as

 (a) ancient India, (b) A during British rule, (c) Independent India etc.

2. History of specific levels of education (a) primary education, (b) secondary education, (c) tertiary education etc. in India.

3. History of specific types of education such as (a) adult education, (b) distance education, (c) disadvantaged education, (d) women’s education in India.

 4. Historical study of specific educational institutions such as (i) University of Mumbai, (ii) Aligarh Muslim University and so on.

5. History of the role of the teacher in ancient India.

6. History of specific components of education such as (a) curriculum, (b) text-books, (c) teaching-learning methods, (d) aims and objectives of education, (e) teacher-student relationships, (f) evaluation process and so on.

 7. History of national education policies in India.

8. History of admission processes in professional / technical courses (medicine, engineering, management) in India.

9. History of teacher education.

10. Historical biographies of major contributors to education such as Mahatma Gandhi, MaharshiKarve, MaharshiPhule, ShriAurobindo, Gurudev Tagore and so on.

11. History of educational administration.

12. History of public financing of education.

13. History of educational legislation in India.

14. History of educational planning.

15. History of contemporary problems in India.

16. Historical study of the relationship between politics and education in India.

17. Historical study of the impact of the British rule in India.

18. Comparative history of education in India and some other country / countries.

19. Historical study of the system of state-sponsored inspection in India.

20. Historical study of education in specific Indian states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan etc. In other words, historical research in education may be concerned with an individual, a group, an idea a movement or an institution. If a historical study focuses on an entire country / society / system, i.e. if it is broad in scope, it is said to be a macro-level historical research. On the other hand, if its focus is narrow and includes a selective set of people or events of interest, it is said to be a micro-level historical research

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF HISTORY

According to Monaghan and Hartman, there are four major approaches to the study of the past:

a. Qualitative Approach : This is what most laypersons think of as history: the search for a story inferred from a range of written or printed evidence. The resultant history is organised chronologically and presented as a factual tale: a tale of a person who created reading textbooks, such as a biography of William Holmes McGuffey (Sullivan, 1994) or the Lindley Murray family (Monaghan, 1998) in the Western context. The sources of qualitative history range from manuscripts such as account books, school records, marginalia, letters, diaries and memoirs to imprints such as textbooks, children‘s books, journals, and other books of the period under consideration.

 b. Quantitative Approach: Here, rather than relying on ―history by quotation,‖ as the former approach has been negatively called, researchers intentionally look for evidence that lends itself to being counted and that is therefore presumed to have superior validity and generalisability. Researchers have sought to estimate the popularity of a particular textbook by tabulating the numbers printed, based on copyright records. The assumption is that broader questions such as the relationship between education and political system in India or between textbooks and their influence on children can thus be addressed more authoritatively.

 c. Content Analysis : Here the text itself is the focus of examination. This approach uses published works as its data (in the case of history of textbooks, these might be readers, or examples of the changing contents of school textbooks in successive editions) and subjects them to a careful analysis that usually includes both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Content analysis has been particularly useful in investigating constructs such as race, caste, etc.

d. Oral History : Qualitative, quantitative, and content approaches use written or printed text as their database. In contrast, the fourth approach, oral history, turns to living memory. For instance, oral historians interested in women‘s education could ask their respondents about their early experiences and efforts in women‘s education.

These four approaches are not, of course, mutually exclusive. Indeed, historians avail themselves of as many of these as their question, topic, and time period permit. This integration is possible because the nature of historical research cuts across a variety of approaches, all of which commence with the recognition of a topic and the framing of a question. In other words, a historical study may be quantitative in nature, qualitative in nature or a combination of the approaches. Its purpose can be mainly descriptive, aiming to understand some specific development in a particular period of time in a particular culture; or it could be explanatory, trying to test and accept / reject widely held assumptions.

A historical investigation is conducted with objectivity and the desire to minimize bias, distortion and prejudice. Thus, it is similar to descriptive method of research in this aspect. Besides, it aims at describing all aspects of the particular situation under study (or all that is accessible) in its search for the truth. Thus, it is holistic, comprehensive in nature and is similar to the interpretive approach. Though it is not empirical in nature (does not collect data through direct observation or experimentation), it does make use of reports (all the available written and/or oral material), it definitely qualifies to be a scientific activity. This is because it requires scholarship to conduct a systematic and objective study and evaluation and synthesis of evidence so as to arrive at conclusions. In other words, historical research is scientific in nature. Moreover, any competent researcher in other types of empirical studies reviews the related literature so as to find out prior researches and theoretical work done on a particular topic. This requires studying journals, books, encyclopedias, unpublished theses and so on. This is followed by interpretation of their significance. These steps are common to empirical research and historical research. i.e. to some extent, every researcher makes use of the historical method in his/her research.

However, it should be mentioned here that historical researcher in education “discovers” already existing data from a wide range of historical sources such as documents, relics, autobiographies, diaries or photographs. On the other hand, in other types of educational studies, the researcher “creates” data through observations, measurement through tests and experimentation. To this extent, historical research differs from descriptive and experimental researches.

STEPS IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH :

The essential steps involved in conducting a historical research are as follows:

A. Identify a topic/subject and define the problems/questions to be investigated.

B. Search for sources of data.

C. Evaluate the historical sources.

D. Analyze, synthesize and summarize interpreting the data / information.

E. Write the research report.

Since most historical studies are largely qualitative in nature, the search for sources of data, evaluating, analyzing, synthesizing and summarizing information and interpreting the findings may not always be discreet, separate, sequential steps i.e. the sequence of steps in historical research is flexible. Let us now look at each of these steps in details.

A. Identify a Topic and Define the Problem

According to Borg, “In historical research, it is especially important that the student carefully defines his problem and appraises its appropriateness before committing himself too fully. Many problems are not adaptable to historical research methods and cannot be adequately treated using this approach. Other problems have little or no chance of producing significant results either because of the lack of pertinent data or because the problem is a trivial one.”

Beach has classified the problems that prompt historical inquiry into five types:

1. Current social issues are the most popular source of historical problems in education. e.g. Rural education, adult and continuing education, positive discrimination in education etc.

2. Histories of specific individuals, histories of specific educational institutions and histories of educational movement. These studies are often conducted with “the simple desire to acquire knowledge about previously unexamined phenomena”.

3. A historical study of interpreting ideas or events that previously had seemed unrelated. For example, history of educational financing and history of aims of education in India may be unrelated. But a person reviewing these two researches separately may detect some relationship between the two histories and design a study to understand this relationship.

4. A historical study aimed at synthesizing old data or merge them with new historical facts discovered by the researcher.

5. A historical inquiry involving reinterpretation of past events that have been studied by other historical researchers. This is known as revisionist history. On the other hand, in order to identify a significant research problem, Gottschalk recommends that four questions should be asked:

 (i) Where do the events take place?

(ii) Who are the persons involved? (iii) When do the events occur?

(iv) What kinds of human activity are involved? The scope of the study can be determined on the basis of the extent of emphasis placed on the four questions identified by Gottschalk i.e. the geographical area included, the number of persons involved, the time span included and the number and kinds of human activities involved often, the exact scope and delimitation of a study is decided by a researcher only after the relevant material has been obtained.

The selection of a topic in historical research depends on several personal factors of the researcher such as his/her motivation, interest, historical knowledge and curiosity, ability to interpret historical facts and so on. If the problem selected involves understanding an event, an institution, a person, a past period, more clearly, it should be taken up for a research. The topic selected should be defined in terms of the types of written materials and other resources available to you. This should be followed by formulating a specific and testable hypothesis or a series of research questions, if required. This will provide a clear focus and direction to data collection, analysis and interpretation. i.e. it provides a structure to the study. According to Borg, without hypotheses, historical research often becomes little more than an aimless gathering of facts.

B. Search for Sources of Data

Historical research is not empirical in that it does not include direct observation of events or persons. Here, the researcher interprets past events on the basis of traces they have left. He uses the evidence of past acts and thoughts. Thus, through he/she does not use his/her own observation but on other people’s observations. The researcher’s job here is to test the truthfulness of the reports of other people’s observations. These observations are obtained from several sources of historical data. Let us now try to discuss various sources of historical data.

Sources of Historical Data These sources are broadly classified into two types:

 (a) Primary Sources: Gottschalk defines a primary data source as “the testimony of any eyewitness, or of a witness by any other of the senses, or of a mechanical device like the Dictaphone – that is, of one who … was present at the events of which he tells. A primary source must thus have been produced by a contemporary of the events it narrates.” In other words, primary sources are tangible materials that provide a description of an historical event and were produced shortly after the event happened. They have a direct physical relationship to the event being studied. Examples of primary sources include new paper report, letters, public documents, court decisions, personal diaries, autobiographies, artifacts and eyewitness’s verbal accounts. These primary sources of data can be divided into two broad categories as follows:

(i) The remains or relics of a given historical period. These could include photographs, coins, skeletons, fossils, tools, weapons, utensils, furniture, buildings and pieces of art and culture (object d’ art). Though these were not originally meant for transmitting information to future generations they could prove very useful sources in providing reliable and sound evidence about the past. Most of these relics provide non-verbal information.

(ii) Those objects that have a direct physical relationship with the events being reconstructed. This includes documents such as laws, files, letters, manuscripts, government resolutions, charters, memoranda, wills, news-papers, magazines, journals, films, government or other official publications, maps, charts, log-books, catalogues, research reports, record of minutes of meetings, recording, inscriptions, transcriptions and so on.

(b) Secondary Sources: A secondary source is one in which the eyewitness or the participant i.e. the person describing the event was not actually present but who obtained his/her descriptions or narrations from another person or source. This another person may or may not be a primary source. Secondary sources, thus, do not have a direct physical relationship with the event being studies. They include data which are not original. Examples of secondary sources include textbooks, biographies, encyclopedias, reference books, replicas of art objects and paintings and so on. It is possible that secondary sources contain errors due to passing of information from one source to another. These errors could get multiplied when the information passes through many sources thereby resulting in an error of freat magnitude in the final data. Thus, wherever possible, the researcher should try to use primary sources of data. However, that does not reduce the value of secondary sources.

In conclusion, the various sources of historical information-both primary and secondary can be summarized as follows: It must be mentioned here that the branch of historical research using all or some types of oral records is known as oral history. It should also be mentioned here that some objects can be classified as documents or relics depending on the how they are used in a historical study. For example, in a research study on how a historical figure (a politician, a freedom fighter or a social reformer) is presented in textbooks of different periods, the textbook will be classified as a document as the emphasis here is on analyzing its content-matter given in a verbal form. On the other hand, in a research study on printing methods in the past, the textbook can be used as a relic as the focus here is not on analyzing its contents but on its physical, outward characteristics or features.