Chapter 4

Historical
Research
Reporters:
NIKKI ANN P. PALIMA
MARK DENVER S. BALATONG
 HISTORY
• Its origin is the search for knowledge and
truth or a searching to find out.
• Nevin ( Good and Scared, p. 170 ) defines
history as a any integrated narrative or
description of past events or facts written in
a spirit of critical inquiry for the whole truth.
 HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
• is a process of:
selecting the area or topic to write the
history about
collecting data about events that
occur in the area or about the topic
collating the data
 HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
• is a process of:
sifting the authentic from non-authentic
making an interpretative narrative
about or critical inquiry into the whole
truth of the events
 HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
• describes what occurred in the past and
then makes a critical inquiry into the truth
of what occurred.
• must be interpretative, that is or describes
the present situations in terms of past
events.
 4 MAJOR
ACTIVITIES IN
HISTORICAL
a)
RESEARCH
Choosing and defining the problem
b) Collecting the data
c) Critically analyzing the data
d) Writing the research report
 CHOOSING THE PROBLEM
• Historical research problems requires
researchers to:
 consider resources - finance his project
 availability of data - ensure adequate
data are accessible
 time constraint - able to finish within
reasonable period of time
 CHOOSING THE PROBLEM
• Historical research problems requires
researchers to:
 professional competence - enough
competence and effort to carry the
project into its completion.

• for graduate student problem must be

delimited.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
• second major activity in
historical research
• sources of historical
data ( Good and
Scared, pp. 179-188 ):
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL
A. Written Sources
DATA
1. Official and public documents
a) Legislative acts such as
constitutions, laws, status,
resolutions, charters and records,
decisions, letters of instructions,
decrees (presidential or royal),
speeches and records of cabinet
deliberations.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
b) Records of proceedings and
orders, circulars, bulletin
decisions, reports and other
communications of executive
departments and lower
administrative bodies such as
boards, committees and
commissions.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL
c) Records of court trials,
DATA
deliberations and decisions
d) Registrations of population
(census), births, deaths, cars and
other vehicles, lands, buildings
and cattle
e) Contracts, treaties, executive
agreements and other foreign
relations exchanges
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
f) School records such as registrations,
grades, and graduation of students,
orders and reports of school officials
decisions of deliberative bodies such
as school board or board of trustees,
school surveys, courses of study and
other instructional materials,
textbooks, lecture notes, catalogues,
prospect uses and advertisements and
diplomas certificates.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
2. Books and master's theses and
doctoral dissertations
3. Newspapers and periodicals with
new items, new notices, articles
and advertisements, chronicles
and annals.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL
4. Personal Materials
DATA
a) Autobiographies, memoirs,
reminiscences, biographies,
diaries, letters, genealogies and
notes
b) Legal instruments executed by
individual in a personal capacity,
contracts wills and deeds
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
5. Handwritten materials, including
papyri, bricks bearing cuneiform
writing, vellum or parchment
manuscripts and modern
documents.
 COLLECTION OF
B. HISTORICAL
Orally Transmitted Materials DATA
• such as folklore, legends, ballads, myths,
sagas, epics, tales, anecdotes and
traditions.
C. Artistic Production
• such as historical paintings, portraits,
scenic or portrait sculpture, chiseled
stones, coin types, stamped coins, figures
in ancient coins, woven tapestries, vases
and sculptures.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
D. Tape Recordings
• radio and television, documentaries,
movies, films, pictorials, slides,
microfilm and transparencies
 COLLECTION OF
E. HISTORICAL
Relics and Remains DATA
a) Physical: historic sites, roads, aqueducts,
pyramids, fortifications, buildings ruined or
whole, furniture pottery, implements and
tools, weapons or arms, human remains,
clothing, food, dwellings, utensils,
machinery, monuments, means of
communication and transportation,
skeletons, fossils, etched stones, tablets
and walls, plans of buildings or pictures of
all sort.
 COLLECTION OF
HISTORICAL DATA
b) Non-physical: language, social
institutions, products of the
mind, business records,
literature, manners, customs
and ceremonies.
 PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY SOURCES OF
DATA
Primary Sources
• only solid bases of historical work are
the original documents or remains, the
first witnesses to a fact.
Secondary Sources
• not personally witnessed the events
 CRITICAL
ANALYSIS OF
HISTORICAL DATA
 for authenticity or genuineness
 to determine truth of the
statements therein
 TWO KINDS OF
CRITICISM
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
• used to determine the authenticity or
genuineness of a historical document
• considering authorship, time, place,
purpose, circumstances or composition
and what part of the document is true to
the original.
 Questions in External Criticism
1. Who was the author, not merely what was his name
but what were his personality, character, position and
so forth?
2. What were his general qualifications and
disqualifications as a reporter-elements character
bias?
3. What were his special qualifications and
disqualifications as a reporter of the matters here
treated?
a) How was he interested in the
events related?
b) How was he situated for
observation of the events?
c) Had he the necessary general
and technical knowledge for
learning and reporting the
events?
4. How soon, after the events was the
document written? For one purpose, the
century of composition may be sufficient, for
another the very hair may be essential.
5. How was the document written, from
memory after consultation with others, after
checking the facts or by combining earlier
trial drafts?
6. How is the document related to other
documents?
a) Is it an original source, wholly or in
part?
b) If the latter, what parts are original,
what are borrowed; whence? How
credible are the borrowed materials?
c) How accurately is the borrowing done?
d) How is the borrowed material
changed, How is it used?
 USE OF AUXILIARY
SCIENCES
• helps in determining authenticity and
genuineness of a document among
which are:

1. Epigraphy - study of inscriptions and

the art of deciphering them.
2. Diplomatic - science of charters and
diplomas and includes a knowledge of the
practices of chanceries and of the forms
used in term.
3. Paleography - study of writing which has a
history all it's own. The writing of a given
Scriptorium is usually quite characteristics.
Besides, handwriting varies from age to
age so that it's tone is often quite
competent to locate on manuscript in time.
4. Philology - in all it's branches is of the
greatest use in determining date and
authenticity. To give some elementary
examples, the word choose was in the
eighteenth century frequently spelled
chase, clothes was spelled clothes,
entire, entire and so on.
5. Archaeology, Anthropology and
Prehistory - in general have
had the greatest influence
upon the study of history and
the first of these might almost
be called the science of
remains.
6. Chemistry and the paper-maker's art -
often said that a given document, written
on mood pulp for example, and with a
particular ink, cannot be older than the
definite data when these materials were
first manufactured coins and medals are
often of great historical value. Indeed ,
there is no field or item of human
knowledge that may not be called upon to
give evidence for or against the
genuineness of some particular documents
or remains.
 PURPOSES OF
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
• ( Good and Scared pp. 192-198 )
• Detect the following:
1. Forgeries and hoaxes
a) A forger removes the name of the originator
of an important document by some means and
places his name or some other's name
instead. The forger becomes the originator of
the document or the person whose name he
places.
b) If the document speaks of great deeds
attributed to a certain person, the forgers
deletes the name of the person who
accomplished the feat and places his name
or some other's name.
c) A forger copies an important document,
either on paper, baked clay or stone, and
places his name or some other's name to
show that he or his here made the document
or accomplished the deed mentioned in the
document.
d) A person with a certain motive writes a
document which he attributes to the
important person by signing the name of
the latter in the document. Certain letters
have been attributed to persons who have
never made them.
2. Authorship, time and dilation of
documents
usually occurs with persons who
employ ghost writers.
For instances, speeches of heads of
states usually written by their
respective staffs and it is difficult to
determine who the real authors of
such speeches are.
3. Incorrect borrowings
a) When one copies an original work
without acknowledging the
originator of the work and passes
that as his own
b) When there are errors in copying
the text of the original material and
c) When the borrowing
misinterpretations the ideas being
portrayed by the original material.
4. Inventions and Distortions
a) A historian invents speeches or
orations which are supposed to
have been delivered by great men
of history just to project his own
philosophy or ideas.
b) Anecdotes are created to enhance the
prestige of an adored hero.
c) Original works of great men are edited
and corrected for poor grammar but in
so doing, distortions occur. The
corrected copy may no longer contain
the original idea.
 PRINCIPLES OF
INTERNAL CRITICISM
(Woody, cited by Good and States p.199)
1. Do not read into earlier documents the
conceptions of the later times.
2. Do not judge an author ignorant of certain
events, necessarily, because he fails to
mention them (the argument ex silentio)
or that they did not occur for the same
reason.
 INTERNAL
CRITICISM
process of determining the true meaning
and value of the statements contained in a
document
is positive, if efforts are made to discover
the true meaning of contents
is negative, if efforts are exerted in finding
reasons for disbelieving the contents.
3. Underestimating a source is no
less an error than overestimating in
the same degree and there is no
more virtue in placing an event too
late than in placing it too early by
the same number of years or
centuries.
4. A single true source may establish the
existence of an idea but other direct,
competent, independent witnesses
are required to prove the reality of
events or objective facts.
5. Identical errors prove the dependence of
sources on eagle other or a common
source
6. If witnesses contradict each other on a
certain point, one or the other may be
true, but both may be on error.
7. Direct, competent, independent
witnesses who report the same central
fact and also many peripheral matters in
a casual way may accepted for the
points of their agreements.
8. Official testimony, oral or written, must
be compared with unofficial testimony
whenever possible, for neither one nor
the other is sufficient.
9. A document may provide competent
and dependable evidence on a certain
point, yet carry no weight in respect to
others it mentions.
SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF
INTERNAL CRITICISM
1. What did the author mean by this
particular statement? What is it's real
meaning as distinguished from it's mere
literal meaning?
2. Was the statement made in good faith
a) Had the author interest in deceiving
the reader?
b) Was the author under pressure to tell
the untruth?
c) Was the influenced by sympathy or
antipathy to tell the untruth?
d) Did vanity influence him?
e) Was he influenced by public opinions?
f) Is there evidence of literary or
dramatic motives to distort the truth?
3. Was the statement accurate? Or more
particularly.
a) Was the author a poor observer because
of mental effect or abnormality?
b) Was the author badly situated in time
and place to observe?
c) Was the author negligent or indifferent?
d) Was the fact of such a nature could not
be directly observed?
e) Was the author a mere witness or a
trained observer?
4. When it appears that the author
was not original observer, it is
necessary to determine the truth
and accuracy of his sources of
information.
• Literal and real meanings or literal
meanings of statements in old documents
is hard to determine because of the
presence of unfamiliar and obsolete terms
and references to institutions, customs,
traditions which are unknown today.
• The competence of the observer must also
be considered.
 TESTS OF
TRUTHFULNESS AND
HONESTY
( Hocett, cited by Sanchez p.36) Test the following
questions:
1. What is the personal or vested interest of the
author?
2. To what race, nation, party, region, sect, social
level, economic group, or profession does the
observer belong which may introduce bias or
prejudice?
3. To what extent is the statement a
conventional form where set formulas
rather than true sentiments are
expressed?
4. Is there evidence of vanity or
boasting?
5. Does the author want to please some
particular individual, group or even the
general public?
6. Are exaggerations or embellishments in
the form of literary artifices and rhetorical
flourishes employed to produce the
desired effects?
 CAUSATIVE
INTERPRETATION OF
HISTORY
General Philosophies of History
• do not lend themselves to pragmatic tests
of workability.
• broader in scope than specific schools
of historical interpretation
The general philosophies of history are:
1. The Greek and Roman historians viewed
fate as controlling human destiny.
2. The Christian philosophy of history was
based on the dominant ideas of divine
concern for mankind and of changes in
history as slowly tending toward the
progress and universality of the true
religion.
3. According to Voltaire's Rationalistic
Theory, the events of history were
attributable not to design but to chance
or fortuity.
4. Hegel's Doctrine was the every epoch
in history was inspired and dominated
by some specific idea.
5. The Darwinian Theory of Evolution
as applied to history means that ill
social institutions, as well as in
animal kingdom, the rule of the
survival of the fittest applies and that
acquired characteristics of society
are passed on to succeeding
generations.
6. The Marxian Philosophy applied to
history is that the mode of production
in the economic life primarily
determined the general character of
the social, political, cultural
processes of life which shifts as the
economic foundations changes.
7. Since the World War of 1914-1918, a
rhythm philosophy explains history as
a series of pulsation, the swing and
counter swing of the pendulum, a
series of summer-fall-winter spring
seasons with the present period
representing a very bleak season on
civilization and world affairs.
Specific Schools of Historical
Interpretation
(Barnes, cited by Good and Scates pp. 215-216)
1. The personal or biographical or "great-man"
theory is the best known and has been
emphasized most by the conventional
historians. It holds that the great personalities
of history are the main causative factors in
historical development and that history is
collective biography.
2. The spiritual or idealistic interpretation of
history is found in the discovery of
spiritual forces cooperating with
geographic and economic factors to
produce truly personal conditions and in
human activities finding expressions in
social relations for the more complete
subjection of physical nature to human
welfare.
3. The scientific and technological theory
views human progress as directly
correlated with the advances in
natural science and technology
emphasizing that the prevailing state
of scientific knowledge and it's
technical interpretation will determine
the existing modes of economic life
and activities.
4. The economic school of historical
interpretation contends that the prevailing
type of economic institutions and processes
in the society will, in a large measure
determine the nature of the resulting social
institutions and culture.
5. The Geographical Theory holds that the
actions of man cannot be fully understood or
adequately described when divorced from
their physical setting.
6. Sociological Interpretation of history
draws from sociology (the science of the
life and activities of men in groups) a
knowledge of both the causes and
results of group life as the basis for a
generalized view of the social process
and of social causation.
7. The relatively recent synthetic , eclectic,
pluralistic or "collective psychological" theory
is considered the most inclusive and most
important type of historical interpretation,
holding that no single category of causes is
sufficient to explain all phases and periods of
historical development and that only the
collective psychology of any period is strong
enough to dominate the attendant historical
development.
Therefore, the new history is necessarily
eclectic in approach and interpretation
in contrast to the older conventional
history which overstress political
causation or holds the historical
development is entirely arbitrary.
It is more accurate to say that seven
definite schools of historical
interpretation "are not mutually
exclusive but in a large measure
supplementary".
 SYNTHESIZING
HISTORICAL EVENTS
certain problems or processes involved:
Identification and definition of the problem
• must be delimited to a reasonable scope
• select problem which he is capable of
solving
Formulation of Hypothesis
• Should state exactly what historical
data have to be found
• Need not be expressly stated
• The specific questions raised at the
beginning of the inquiry serve as the
hypotheses
Inductive - Deductive reasoning
• Inductive reasoning (particulars-
generalizations)
• Deductive reasoning (generalizations-
particulars)

Historical perspective
• Two ways of evaluating historical
events:
 In terms of contemporaneous events,
conditions, practices and traditions existing
at the time the event occurred and in the
same environment.
 To judge the events in terms of present day
events, condition, practices and traditions
and in terms of those existing in other places
which are better known.
Central theme or principle of synthesis
• where the history is woven?
 GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE
WRITING OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
( Good and States pp. 225-232)
1) Mastery of Materials
• Effective modern historical writing shows
evidence of scholarship, research and
mastery of materials presented without
orientation.
• must be authentic, genuine, and adequate
 GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE
WRITING OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
2) Working Outline
• preliminary outline is necessary to guide
the selection and arrangement of notes
• can be revised radically as necessary
• Good outline gives continuity to the
writing of the historical report
GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE
WRITING OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
3) Progression
• moves forward
• should employ a thesis or
principle of synthesis as a theory
of causation to explain the
cause-effect relationships
 GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE
WRITING OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
4) Emphasis on major element
• more detailed generalizations for
the major sections of the work are
essential to the accomplishment of
this purpose and to the
subordination of the details.
5) Art of narration
• both the science of research and the
literary art of narration are essential for
effective historical work.
• history as an art should not be pushed
to the point of filling in missing details
through sheer play of the imagination,
merely for the sake of completeness
and symmetry.
• certain gaps or missing links may be a
characteristic of authentic history.
 GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE
WRITING OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH
6) Dramatization, rhetoric and style
• a historical composition can be
written simply and clearly, without
excessive dramatization,
exaggerated, rhetorical flourishes,
or undue appeal to the emotions.
• should posses the characteristics of
a Good story.
 DEFICIENCIES IN
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
(Borg, cited by Manuel and Model p. 31)
1) A research area in selected in which
sufficient evidence is not available to
conduct a worthwhile study or test the
hypothesis adequately.
2) Excessive use of secondary sources of
information is frequently found in studies
not dealing with recent events.
3) Attempts to work on a broad
snippiest defined problem.
4) Historical data are poorly and
inadequately evaluated.
5) Personal bias tend to influence the
research procedures.
6) The facts are not synthesized or
integrated into meaningful
generalizations.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
• Five characteristics according to
Helmstadter (cited by Reserve and
reserve, Jr. pp. 167-168)
1) Observations in historical research
cannot be repeated in the same
manner as in laboratory experiments
and descriptive surveys.
2) The researcher must find
satisfaction in spending vast
amounts of time in the library and
in pursuing minute details in
relation to the topic independent
study.
3) A historical project is usually conducted
by one person
4) A hypothesis is not always necessary
in historical research inferences are
made more often from the bits of
information gathered to produce the
general description of the event or the
situation.
5) The writing style of the written report tends
to be more flexible because the researcher
wishes to present the facts and information
in an interesting manner.
6) In addition, data are often ideas, concepts
and opinions and hence conclusions,
generalizations and inferences become
subjective. No report investigators would
reach the same conclusions in a given
instance.
 IMPORTANCE OF
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Historical research is important due to the
following:
1) A study of the past makes people understand
the present better, especially the factors
affecting the present. "History has a three-
fold purpose: giving us a knowledge of the
past, a better understanding of the present,
and a means of predicting the future. "
2) Historical information serves as a preliminary to
reform. Mistakes of the past may be avoided if
we have a knowledge of them.
3) People become more open to change if they
are well informed about the past, especially
about tragic events.
4) People are motivated to respect the
contributions of the people of the past to the
present state of things, especially those of
heroes.
 WHEN TO USE
HISTORICAL RESEARCH ?
Historical research may be utilized when it is
desired to write a story of any of the
following:
1) Any geographical area or place, say a
historical site, barangay, town, province,
region, country or the world for that
matter.
 WHEN TO USE
HISTORICAL RESEARCH ?
2) Any institution, say a school, a club or
association, courtship and marriage or
any other custom, the army,
Christmas, government, communism,
Christianity.
 WHEN TO USE
HISTORICAL RESEARCH ?
3) Any important historical event, say
the Battle of Bataan in the Letters
landing, the liberation of Manila,
all of which occurred during the
occupation of the Philippines by
the Japanese during the World
War II. Etc.
 The end of
Chapter 4
QUIZ
POOL OF WORDS
Historical Research
Science of remains
General Philosophies of History
Epigraphy
Anecdotes
Secondary Sources
Paleography
Original works of great men
 Fill in the blanks.
1) Archeology, Anthropology and
Prehistory are also called as
_____________.

2) _____________ are broader in

scope than specific schools of
historical interpretation.
 Fill in the blanks.
3) ____________ are created to
enhance the prestige of an adored
hero.

4) ____________ is the study of

writing which has a history all it's
own.
 Fill in the blanks.
5) ___________ describes what
occurred in the past and then
makes a critical inquiry into the
truth of what occurred.
6) ___________ of data not
personally witnessed the events.
 Enumeration.
7 – 8.
Two Purposes of Critical Analysis of
Historical Data
9 – 10.
Sources of Historical Data
11-12.
Two Types of Relics and Remains
 Essay.
13-15.
Differentiate External Criticism from Internal
Criticism