49
Limitations:
In spite of all the advantages mentioned above, this design suffers from the following limitations:
- The use of this design seriously restricts the external validity of the experiment. The experiment can partially overcome this limitation by replicating the experiment with different groups.
- There are some situations in which it is not possible for the experimenter to select subjects at random from the population of interest.
TEST
- Describe the nature of experimental research.
- List and describe the essential characteristics of experimental research.
- Compare the experimental method with the historical method of research.
- Compare the experimental method with the descriptive method of research.
- Define the term control.
- List and describe the purposes of control in an experiment.
51
THE HISTORICAL METHOD
NATURE:
Historical research attempts to establish fact so as to arrive at concussions concerning past events. This is usually accompanied by an interpretation of these events and of their relevance to present circumstances and what might happen in that future. The main purpose of historical research, therefore, is to arrive at an accurate account of the past so as to gain a clearer perspective of the present. This knowledge enables us at least partially to predict and control our future existence.
Historical research, as any other type of research, includes the delimitation of a problem, formulation hypotheses or tentative generalizations, gathering and analyzing data, and arriving at conclusions or generalizations based upon deductive-inductive reasoning.
VALUE:
Historical research has great value in the field of educational research because it is necessary to know and understand educational achievements and trends of the past in order to gain perspective on present and future direction.
TYPES:
Bibliographic research.
Studying the history of ideas.
Studying the history of institutions and organizations.
51
Bibliographic Research:
Bibliographic research aims at determining and presenting truthfully the important facts about the life, character, and achievements of important educators.
Studying the History Of Ideas
Studying the history of ideas involves the tracing of major philosophical or scientific thoughts from their origins through their different stages of development. It also aims at tracing of changes in popular thoughts and attitudes over a given period of time. The evolution of current concepts.
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. When studying such history, the same general method applies as for the study of an educator’s life.
Steps in historical research:
The steps involved in undertaking a historical research are not different from other forms of research, but the nature of the subject matter present a researcher some peculiar problem and require him to apply some special standards and techniques. In general, historical research involves the following steps :
Selection of the problem
Formulation of hypotheses
Collection of data
Criticism of data
Interpretation and reporting of finding
52
Selection of the problem
A researcher may select a problem pertaining to the history of individuals, institutions, organizations, law, curriculum, administration, textbooks, teacher education, equipment, important concepts and thoughts that have influenced education during a specific period of time in a given culture or sub- culture determined by religion, caste, sex, age or work. He may delimit his study to an era of events in a local, regional, or national setting, or he may study the trend of events in different eras, different societies, or different cultures, The historian may discover new knowledge, the meaning of which, when interpreted will provide answers about past events. Sometimes he may doubt an old interpretation of existing data and then attempt to provide a more satisfactory explanation of past events.
Formulation of hypotheses:
The hypotheses that the researcher constructs for historical research are useful in explaining events, conditions or phenomena of the historical period in question. Sometimes it is argued that in such type of studies a researcher is merely interested in concrete events in their singularity, he has merely to check the validity and authenticity of facts about past events and arrange them in a chronological sequence. Therefore, the researcher may not formulate any hypotheses in such investigations. But the findings based on unstated hypotheses are ambiguous Do not explain or describe the structural interrelations of the phenomena under study. The reports of such findings relate what happened in the past but do not explain how and why the events occurred in a particular sequence.
53
Collection of Data:
After the problem has been selected and stated and appropriate hypotheses or questions have been formulated, the researcher has to collect all the data available so that hypotheses may be thoroughly verified. The collection of data in historical research is a tedious and time consuming process. The researcher usually sifts through the vast materials of human activity that testify a bout past events, and from these he identifies and selects data that are relevant to his problem. These data are classified into primary and secondary sources. It is important for a researcher to distinguish between them and develop skill in locating them.
Primary sources:
Primary sources are eye witness accounts and are the only solid bases of historical enquiry.
Secondary sources:
Secondary sources are the accounts of an event provided by a person who did not directly observe the event, object, or condition. The person may have directly contacted an actual observer and talked with him or read an account by an observer. Since the testimony of the person is not that of an actual participant or observer, secondary sources are subject to an inherent danger of inaccuracy and distortion. For this reason the researcher should rely as much as possible on primary sources and use the secondary sources only to bridge the gaps between the various pieces of primary data
Criticism of Data:
After the data have been identified, the researcher must learn to read them correctly as a basis for developing sound ideas of the past, which in turn may help in interpreting present trends and possibly in predicting future events. For this the researcher subjects his data to rigorous
54
evaluation, which is known as criticism of the data. It involves the dual process of establishing the authenticity of the source and of establishing the validity of its contents.
The process of establishing the authenticity of the data is termed as external criticism and that of establishing the validity of their content is termed as internal criticism.
External Criticism:
External criticism, also called as lower criticism, check the genuineness and authenticity of the source material. It helps to determine whether it is what it appears or claims to be and whether it reads true to be original so as to save the researcher from being the victim of a fraud. The purpose of external criticism is, however, not so much ‘negative’ that is, the detection of fraud- as it is the ‘establishment of historical truth’
Internal criticism:
After the authenticity of the historical data has been established the researcher proceeds to internal criticism. It is also called as higher criticism and is concerned with the validity, credibility, or worth of the content of the document. Besides the textual criticism, it also involves such factors as competence, good faith, bias and general reputation of the author. Internal criticism is positive in nature when the researcher seeks to discover the literal and the real meaning of the text. It is negative when the researcher tries to seek every possible reason for disbelieving the statement made, questioning critically the competence, truthfulness or accuracy, and honesty of the author.
Interpretation of Data:
After the data have been collected and criticized, the researcher turns himself to the task of interpretation of these data in the light of his problem. Although the interpretation of data is treated earlier in a brief discussion may be made at this stage, with special application to the
55
historical data. Because of the unique nature of the historical data, the task of the interpretation becomes complicated and acquires special significance. It requires greatest ingenuity and imagination on the part of the researcher.
The researcher in the historical type of investigation must be very cautious while dealing with ‘cause and effect’ relationships Here his position is entirely different from a researcher of physical sciences who deals with very simple isolated laboratory phenomena. Historical causes are invariably complex and the historical researcher must accept the fact that he is not dealing with clear cut cases of causes and effect.
Writing of Research Report:
After the data have been interpreted, the researcher has to write a well-organized report of his study. Since a detailed discussion of the processes involved in report writing is presented in the report of the historical research includes a statement of the problem, a review of the literature, the statement of the objectives and hypotheses, survey and sources of data, and methods of its collection, organization of heads of classification and ordering of data, the criticism, analysis and interpretation of data, the conclusions reached and a bibliography.
The writing of historical research report needs the highest level of scholarship on the part of the researcher.
56
TEST
-