Banner

Write a Historiography

What is historiography, what is the purpose of a historiography paper, what are the different branches of history, what are the parts of a historiography paper.

  • Seven Steps to Writing Historiography
  • Resources for Gathering and Reading the Literature
  • Resources for Writing and Revising
  • Additional Resources and Guides

Ask Us: Chat, email, visit or call

Click to chat: contact the library

Guide: Cite Your Sources: Chicago Notes & Bibliography

Guide: Cite Your Sources Chicago Notes Bibliograph

Get assistance

The library offers a range of helpful services.  All of our appointments are free of charge and confidential.

  • Book an appointment

Historiography means “the writing of history.” In a research paper, the writer asks questions about the past, analyzes primary sources, and presents an argument about historical events, people, or societies. In a historiography paper, the author critiques, evaluates, and summarizes how historians have approached, discussed, and debated certain topics over time. 

Scholars who work with the same historical records and archival materials can often come away from their research with vastly different opinions about why things happened the way they did. In some cases, historians who study the same sources are not even interested in the same topics or people! This variety of approaches is precisely why we write historiographies.  

Historians arrive at such different conclusions for many reasons. One is that historians are individuals with unique experiences, and our experiences and identities often affect how we approach our work. Historians are also influenced by social, cultural, political, and technological events in their lifetimes. For example, the introduction of computers allowed historians to use more quantitative data in their research, while social and political developments (e.g., civil, gay, and women’s rights movements) continue to influence the kinds of questions historians ask about historical subjects. 

In a historiographical paper, the author (that’s you!) examines the sources, theories, and assumptions that historians have used to conduct their research. Your job is then to explain why and how the history of a particular subject has been written the way it has.  

Writing historiography is a lot like writing a literature review . For this reason, many of the links and resources in this LibGuide will direct you towards existing Library resources for writing literature reviews.

Historiography assignments typically have two goals:  

  • They encourage you to explore secondary studies and familiarize yourself with scholarly debates within the history of a given topic.  
  • how historians have treated a topic in the past,  
  • how they have used novel approaches and methodologies to ask new questions, and 
  • how other disciplines like anthropology, sociology, literary critique, and psychology have influenced the work of historians.  

Your instructor might leave the approach up to you or they might encourage you to write a specific kind of historiography. For example, your paper might:  

  • analyze how contemporary or near-contemporary historians interpreted or explained past events as or just after they occurred,  
  • review how historians have approached a specific topic over time and explain why their methods and assumptions have produced different or similar arguments, or 
  • compare how historians from different “schools” of thought have treated the same topic.  

Depending on the nature of your paper and argument, you might end up combining some of these approaches, for example, by dividing your paper chronologically and discussing the branches of history that were popular during each period.  

There are many fields and subfields within history, each with its own theoretical assumptions and methodological trends, but this list of the most common ones will help you get started: 

  • Art history  
  • Cultural history  
  • Diplomatic history  
  • Economic history  
  • Environmental history  
  • History of science  
  • Intellectual history  
  • Political history  
  • Social history 
  • Women’s and gender history 

Like most history papers, the historiography follows a traditional essay structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The major difference is that the analysis focuses on the secondary sources, as opposed to the primary sources.  

What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?

Primary sources are the sources created by or about our historical subjects, during or slightly after the period we study. They can be firsthand accounts of historical events (newspapers, chronicles, diaries, letters, memoirs, or court documents) or sources that were produced during or just after the period we study (books, songs, films, art, or artifacts). The most important distinction is that most of these sources do not contain any big-picture analysis of the past: they are sources or materials that get us as close to our subjects as possible, to help us understand how they thought, believed, and lived.  

Secondary sources are the texts that contain research produced by historians who have analyzed primary sources to learn more about the past. To help the reader understand their arguments, the authors of historical studies interpret, analyze, and synthesize information from primary sources and the research of other historians. Peer-reviewed articles, books, and conference papers are all considered secondary sources.  

Introduction

  • To explain the focus and show the importance of the subject.  
  • provide the framework, selection criteria, or parameters of your historiography.  
  • provide brief background context for the topic being discussed.   
  • outline what kind of work has been done on the topic.  
  • briefly point out any controversies within the field or any recent research that has raised questions about earlier assumptions, if they are relevant to your paper.  
  • In a stand-alone historiography paper, the thesis statement will sum up and evaluate the current state of research on this topic.  
  • In a historiography paper that introduces or is preparatory to an argumentative history paper or graduate thesis, the thesis statement will situate your original research within the existing historiographical debates and help to justify your work by proving what is new or interesting about your chosen approach.  
  • To summarize and evaluate the current state of historical knowledge about this subject.  
  • To note major themes or topics, the most important trends, and any findings on which researchers agree or disagree.  
  • Can be divided by subheadings, but this is usually not necessary in papers shorter than 2,000 words.  
  • For example, a historiography section in a dissertation on memories of the Second World War might discuss how commemoration has been studied in the context of the First World War and the American Civil War, as well as broader cultures of commemoration in Britain, Canada, Australia, and the US.  
  • To summarize the evidence presented and show its significance.  
  • Rather than restating your thesis or purpose statement, explain what your historiographical overview tells you about the current state of the field.  
  • If the historiography is an introduction to your own research, the conclusion highlights gaps and shows how earlier research has led to your own research project and chosen methodology.   
  • If the historiography is a stand-alone assignment for a course, the conclusion should summarize your findings and discuss implications and possibilities for future research.  

In most history courses at the University of Guelph, you will use Chicago Manual of Style’s notes and bibliography reference style (footnotes). Follow the guidelines to format citations (footnotes) and create a reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.  

To get started with basic Chicago style, see the library’s quick guide on how to  Cite Your Sources: Chicago Notes & Bibliography . 

  • Next: Seven Steps to Writing Historiography >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 1, 2024 4:08 PM
  • URL: https://guides.lib.uoguelph.ca/Historiography

Suggest an edit to this guide

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

MA History Past Papers of Sargodha University

The Sargodha University M.A History past examination paper of all subject of Part I and Part II. UOS Sargodha old examination papers MA Subject History all compulsory and optional papers of part 1 and part 2 Annual and supplementary examination.  Past paper of  Master of Arts in History from Sargodha University .  MA Composite subject History all papers .

M.A History Part 1 Past Examination Paper of UOS

Paper 1  Research Methodology & Historiography Past Paper Paper 2 Early History of Islam Past Paper Paper 3 Society in Muslim India Past Paper Paper 4 Muslim Freedom Movement in South Asia 1858 - 1947 Past Paper Paper 5 History of Pakistan Past Examination Paper

M.A History Part 2 Group A Past Paper Sargodha University

Paper VI Ancient Indian History Past Examination Papers Paper VII History of Sultanate Delhi Past Examination Papers Paper VIII History of Great Mughals Old Examination Papers Paper IX History of Later Mughals Old Examination Papers Paper X History of Punjab Past Examination Papers  

Paper VI History of Umayyahs & Abbasides Past Examination Papers Paper VII History of Modern Europe Past Examination Papers Paper VIII History of Turkey & Modern Turkey Old Examination Papers Paper IX History of Modren Arab World Old Examination Papers Paper X History of Central Asia Past Examination Papers  

Paper VI History of EuropePast Examination Papers Paper VII History of Spain Past Examination Papers

Historical Research Approaches to the Analysis of Internationalisation

  • Research Article
  • Open access
  • Published: 29 September 2016
  • Volume 56 , pages 879–900, ( 2016 )

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

  • Peter J. Buckley 1  

135k Accesses

49 Citations

1 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Historical research methods and approaches can improve understanding of the most appropriate techniques to confront data and test theories in internationalisation research. A critical analysis of all “texts” (sources), time series analyses, comparative methods across time periods and space, counterfactual analysis and the examination of outliers are shown to have the potential to improve research practices. Examples and applications are shown in these key areas of research with special reference to internationalisation processes. Examination of these methods allows us to see internationalisation processes as a sequenced set of decisions in time and space, path dependent to some extent but subject to managerial discretion. Internationalisation process research can benefit from the use of historical research methods in analysis of sources, production of time-lines, using comparative evidence across time and space and in the examination of feasible alternative choices.

Similar content being viewed by others

research methodology and historiography past paper

Bridging History and Reductionism: A Key Role for Longitudinal Qualitative Research

Escape fdi and the varieties of capitalism: why history matters in international business.

Christopher Kobrak, Michael-Jörg Oesterle & Björn Röber

research methodology and historiography past paper

Reconciling theory and context: How the case study can set a new agenda for international business research

Catherine Welch, Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, … Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

The title of this focused issue is ‘About Time: Putting Process Back into Firm Internationalisation Research’. It would therefore seem obvious that historical research methods, whose primary concern is the role of time, would be at the forefront of the analysis. This is not necessarily the case, as these methods are neglected in internationalisation research, and in international business more generally. Historians face many of the same research problems that business researchers do—notably questions related to the analysis of process—but they have produced different answers, particularly in relation to the nature of causation. As a field, international business researchers need to question our research approaches more deeply.

This paper seeks to examine the types of research approaches from history that might aid in a more rounded analysis of internationalisation. Issues of sequencing, path dependence, contingent choices and the evaluation of alternatives are all critical in the internationalisation process and are grist to the mill of historical research. An examination of historical research methods leads to a new approach to the concept of internationalisation itself.

1.1 Historical Research Approaches: The Challenge of Different Underlying Philosophies

It is the difference in underlying philosophy between history and social science that presents the keenest challenge in integrating the temporal dimension with international business research. The contrast between the philosophy underlying history and that of social science—an issue for over a century (e.g., Simiand 1903 )—is put by Isaiah Berlin:

History details the differences among events, whereas the sciences focus on similarities. History lacks the sciences’ ideal models, whose usefulness varies inversely with the number of characteristics to which they apply. As an external observer the scientist willingly distorts the individual to make it an instance of the general, but the historian, himself an actor, renounces interest in the general in order to understand the past through the projection of his own experience upon it. It is the scientist’s business to fit the facts to the theory, the historian’s responsibility to place his confidence in facts over theories (Berlin 1960 , p. 1 (Abstract). Footnote 1

Gaddis ( 2002 ) suggests that a particular contrast between history and social science is that history insists on the interdependence of variables, whilst mainstream social science methods rely on identifying the ‘independent variable’ which affects (causes) changes in dependent variables (Gaddis 2002 , particularly Chapter 4). He suggests that this parallels the distinction between a reductionist view and an ecological approach ( 2002 , p. 54), and that this arises from the social scientists’ desire to forecast the future ( 2002 , p. 56). This also implies continuity over time—the independent variable persists in its causative effect(s). It is also connected with assumptions of rationality, which also is assumed to be time-invariant. Social scientists would counter that historians are theory resistant, at least to the kind of independent variable/rationalist/context-invariant reductionist theory that (perhaps stereotypically) characterises economistic approaches.

Compromises are possible. Recognising sensitive dependence on initial conditions brings ‘narrative’ and ‘analysis’ much closer together, as does dividing time into manageable units—perhaps ‘short-term and long term’ or ‘immediate, intermediate and distant’ (Gaddis 2002 , p. 95). Causality, interdependence, contingency and moderating variables are more manageable when the time-frame is defined. Research in history therefore demonstrates the importance of time, sequencing and process. It also highlights the role of individuals and their decision making. These elements are particularly important in examining entrepreneurship and individual (manager’s) decisions and their outcome in contexts such as the internationalisation of the firm. Footnote 2

How, then, would we recognise if genuinely historical work had been accomplished in internationalisation studies (or indeed in any area of the social sciences)? Tilley ( 1983 , p. 79) gives us an answer:

By ‘genuinely historical’, I mean studies assuming that the time and place in which a structure or process appears makes a difference to its character, that the sequence in which similar events occur has a substantial impact on their outcomes, and that the existing record of past structures and processes is problematic, requiring systematic investigation in its own right instead of lending itself immediately to social-scientific synthesis.

History matters—the importance of historical effects in international business—is illustrated by Chitu et al. ( 2013 ), who document a ‘history effect’ in which the pattern of foreign bond holdings of US investors seven decades ago continues to influence holdings today. Holdings 70 years ago explain 10–15 % of the cross-country variation in current holdings, reflecting the fixed costs of market entry and exit together with endogenous learning. They note that fixed costs need not be large to have persistent effects on the geography of bilateral asset holdings—they need only to be different across countries. Evidence was also found of a ‘history effect’ in trade not unlike that in finance. The history effect is twice as large for non-dollar bonds as a result of larger sunk costs for US financial investments other than the dollar. Legacy effects loom large in international finance and trade.

It is argued in this paper that time and place (context) do make a difference to the structure and process of an individual firm’s internationalisation, that past structures and processes do influence outcomes and that proper acknowledgement of context is vital in understanding and theorising internationalisation. It is further argued that attention to these issues leads to a new conception of internationalisation.

2 Research Methods

Reflecting on the purpose of his methods in his book Bloodlands , on Eastern Europe in the period 1933–45, the historian Timothy Snyder ( 2010 , p. xviii) states that:

…its three fundamental methods are simple: insistence that no past event is beyond historical understanding or beyond the reach of historical enquiry; reflection upon the possibility of alternative choices and acceptance of the irreducible reality of choice in human affairs; and chronological attention to all of the Stalinist and Nazi policies that labelled large numbers of civilians and prisoners of war.

This paper follows similar principles. These are: (1) that the methods of history are appropriate to the study of the internationalisation of firms; (2) that choices and alternatives at given points of time are central to this process; (3) that the role of sequencing and time are central; and (4) that the comparative method is an aid to comprehension of the process of internationalisation.

This paper now examines research methods widely used in history Footnote 3 that have the capability to improve international business research. These are: (1) source criticism (here it is argued that international business researchers are insufficiently aware of deficiencies in “texts”); (2) the analysis of sequences, including time series analyses and process theorising; (3) comparative methods (not exclusive to historical research); and (4) counterfactual analyses (which are currently less utilised than in previous periods of international business theorising). This followed by a proposed research agenda based on the two key methods of examining change over time and utilising comparative analysis.

2.1 Source Criticism

The use of sources is as prevalent in international business as in history but they are often accepted uncritically. Gottschalk ( 1950 ), noting that few source documents are completely reliable, suggests that, ‘for each particular of a document the process of establishing credibility should be separately undertaken regardless of the general credibility of the author’. Given that reliability cannot be assumed, source criticism, as Kipping et al. ( 2014 ) argue, is fundamental to any historical research.

The trustworthiness of an author may establish a basic level of credibility for each statement, but each element must be separately evaluated. This requires questioning the provenance of the text and its internal reliability (Kipping et al. 2014 )—including, importantly, attention to language translation issues if relevant. This leads to the important checks brought about by triangulating the evidence. Triangulation requires the use of at least two independent sources (Kipping et al. 2014 ). This principle is utilised in international business journals by the requirement that both elements of a dyadic relationship are needed to cross check each other. Examples include licensor and licensee, both partners in a joint venture, parent and subsidiary in a multinational enterprise. The question of how far these are independent sources also needs careful investigation. Documents or statements addressed to different individuals and institutions may serve a variety of purposes. Those addressed to powerful individuals, groups or institutions may be intended for gain by the sender. Interviews may be designed to impress the interlocutor. The purpose of the document needs to be explicated. Documents may be designed for prestige, tax minimisation, satisfaction of guarantees (by government, sponsors or creditors) or to cover deficiencies in performance. The historian’s craft is, in part at least, to expose fraud and error (Bloch 1954 ).

Source criticism includes evaluating what is not present in archives, not just what is. Jones ( 1998 ) points out that the company archives many analysts require often do not survive—those that involve statutory obligations often do, but those involving high-level decision making, such as Board papers, often do not. He points out that ‘issues of capabilities, innovation and culture will necessitate looking at what happens “lower down” within a firm’s structure’ (Jones 1998 , p. 19). Further,

The study of intangibles such as the knowledge possessed within a firm, flows of information, and the corporate culture—and how all these things changes over time can involve a very wide range of historical record far removed from documents on strategies… Oral history—of staff employed at all levels—is of special use in examining issues of culture, information flows and systems (Jones 1998 , p. 19).

These issues—intangible assets, strategy, culture and decision making in the face of imperfect information—are crucial in international business strategy research.

In addition to criticisms based on material that exists in ‘the archive’, we need to recognise that the archive is the result of a selection process and therefore that excluded material may be important. Footnote 4 The selection process may be biased towards particular nations, regions, races, classes, genders, creeds, political groupings or belief systems. This is a key theme of ‘subaltern studies’ growing out of South Asia, and particularly India, in imperial times (Ludden 2001 ). The clear implication of these studies is that the colonial era archive was compiled by the colonial (British) administrators and this presents a largely pro-Imperial bias. However, it is also true that among the dispossessed voices, some were privileged (e.g., the Congress Party spokespeople) and others selected out. The lineage of subaltern studies leads us through Gramsci ( 1973 ) to postmodern views of the text: Derrida ( 1994 ), Foucault ( 1965 ), Barthes ( 2005 ). As well as not ‘hearing’ particular groups, the archive records may not cover particular questions or issues Footnote 5 (see also Belich 2009 Footnote 6 ; Decker 2013 ; Moss 1997 ).

2.2 Analysing Sequences, Time Series and Processes

There are a number of important techniques in historical research which are useful to international business scholars in examining process, sequence, rhythm and speed—all of which are important in internationalisation. As Mahoney points out ( 2004 , p. 88), ‘Causation is fundamentally a matter of sequence’. This is a problem addressed in economics as ‘Granger causality’ ( 1988 ). The critical question is not data access, but careful theorising. Sequence and duration arguments attempt to pick up sensitivity to time and place.

Process analysis holds out the possibility of integrating the time dimension into the internationalisation of firms. Process research, which is contrasted to ‘variance paradigms’, pays particular attention to the sequencing of events that take place within cases (Welch and Paavilainen-Mantymaki 2014 ). Events, not variables, are the crucial writ of analysis and capturing multiple time points builds narrative, event studies and panel data analyses. In combination with variance approaches, process analysis has the potential to explain the effects of context (place) and time in internationalisation. The critical task is the identification of the linking mechanisms that connect cause and effect. This requires connecting qualitative data evaluation with experimental reasoning. It is also a useful check on spurious statistical relationships (Granger and Newbold 1974 ). Easterlin ( 2013 ) argues that cross-sectional relationships are often taken to indicate causation when they may merely reflect historical experience, i.e., similar leader–follower patterns for variables that are causally unrelated. This is particularly the case when similar geographic patterns of diffusion are captured by the data—as may well be the case when studying the internationalisation of firms. This may reflect the fact that one set of (national) firms get an early start whilst others play catch-up.

We must, however, beware of ‘ingrained assumptions about historical periodization where mere temporal succession is insufficiently distinguished from historical explanation’ (Gregory 2012 , p. 9). This provides a connection to ‘path dependence’ and sensitivity to initial conditions. Careful examination of relevant data allows analysts to identify reactive sequences ‘whereby an initial outcome triggers a chain of temporally ordered and causally connected events that lead to a final outcome of interest’ (Mahoney 2004 , p. 91).

Page ( 2006 ), however, shows that path dependence describes a set of models, not a single model. Forms of history dependence can be divided between those where outcomes are history dependent and those in which the equilibria depend on history. Path dependence requires ‘a build-up of behavioural routines, social connections, or cognitive structures around an institution’ (p. 89). Page shows that there is a variety of types of path dependence, each of which can be precisely defined, and that it is insufficient to cite ‘increasing returns’ as evidence of path-dependent processes. The consequences for process research on internationalisation are profound and require researchers to be as precise as possible, when asserting path dependence, to evidence its roots and specify their impact on future trajectories. Jackson and Kollman ( 2010 ) build on Page’s definitions and suggest ‘If social scientists use notions of path dependence, they should have clearly articulated definitions and criteria for what constitutes a path dependent process’ (p. 258): ‘Any such formulation must be able to explain how the effects of initial and early outcomes are maintained over long periods of time and continue to be observed in current outcomes’ (p. 280). This is far stronger than a simple statement that ‘history matters’. Path-dependent sequences raise important theoretical issues and thereby contribute to a further and deeper round of understanding; as with quantitative analysis we need to be constantly attentive to sources of bias (Nickell 1981 ).

Understanding sequences entails additional complexities. Brown ( 2012 , p. xxii) points out that choosing the periodicity (start and end points of data collection and investigation) can risk coming to foregone conclusions and ‘a deceptive teleology’:

Two aspects of history are particularly important for historians: propulsion and periodization. The first concerns the forces that promote change. The second involves mental architecture: the chronological framework within which we set out history. Since all periodization presumes a theory of change, these are linked theoretical properties (Green 1993 , p. 17).

Propulsion and periodization—change and classification—are ultimately constructs and need to be placed both within a theoretical framework and a given context of time and place. This is a challenge to international business research which is often insufficiently theoretical and contextualised.

International business studies need to be sensitive to the period of study. Laidler ( 2012 , p. 5) advises,

The past may be the only source of data against which economic hypotheses can be tested or calibrated, but data never speak entirely for themselves. They need to be interpreted through a theory. When the only theory deemed suitable for this purpose embodies itself as part of its own structure, even on an ‘as if’ basis, then that structure is inevitably projected onto the past, and other perspectives on the historical record are obscured.

This suggests that a fundamental problem is that international business research is often inadequately theorised. Theories which stand up to testing in many historical periods are more robust than those that do not. Jones and Khanna ( 2006 , p. 455) see history as an important source of time series data: ‘historical variation is at least as good as contemporary cross-sectional variation in illuminating conceptual issues’. Although it should be noted that many historians are sensitive to the limits of generalisation across historical periods. Burgelman ( 2011 ) sees longitudinal qualitative research being situated between history as ‘particular generalization’ (Gaddis 2002 ) and reductionism; that is, ‘general particularization’.

Longitudinal research and good process research draw on both history’s narrative methods and statistical and mathematical models. Such longitudinal studies clearly need rigorous methods from both history and statistics. A relevant example is Kogut and Parkinson ( 1998 ), who examine the adoption of the multidivisional structure, testing Chandler’s ( 1962 ) core thesis over a long time period, ‘analysing history from the start’. Despite the difficulties of compiling archival data for a large sample of firms, the authors are able to test an innovative methodology on diffusion histories of the ‘M-form’ from the period beginning in 1950. They use a hazard model (of adopting the M-form) with imitation and firm covariates that predict adoption rates. The sample (62 firms) is large enough to be split into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ adopters of this organisational innovation and a comparison of the difference between the two samples enables the authors to confirm Chandler’s historical account and to point to some qualifications concerning flows of information between firms which meant that proximate firms were more likely to adopt the M-form structure. Imitation effects by firms located in the same industry and firms with links to M-form adopters also seemed significant.

The Kogut and Parkinson ( 1998 ) study is a successful example of ‘History Meets Business Studies’ (p. 257) and also of the application of techniques of organisational demography. This approach has also been successfully applied to the birth and death of subsidiaries and foreign market entry strategies (Kogut 2009 ). Historical studies have established an important precedent of ‘the importance of sampling on founders rather than survivors and of the effects of age on mortality’ (Kogut 2009 , p. 721). Shaver ( 1998 ) pointed out that many previous studies had not accounted for endogeneity and were subject to self-selection bias but that such effects could be corrected for using a methodology that factors in the full history of entries, taking account of strategy choice based on firm attributes and industry conditions. Strategy choice is endogenous and self selected based on these conditions and modelling has to account for this. Concepts such as the ‘liability of newness’ (Stinchcombe 1965 ) and the (in International Business) celebrated ‘liability of foreignness’ (Zaheer 1995 after Hymer 1976 ) examine diffusion over time. There are, however, as Kogut ( 2009 ) points out, several unresolved challenges in the organisational demography literature. First, self-selection bias is still unresolved in that successful firms are more likely to venture abroad. Second, because of unobserved variables (such as the quality of the firm) heterogeneity remains in any sample of firms and any heterogeneous population can be shown to suffer ‘liability of newness’. Controls for heterogeneity, of course, are a palliative (e.g., size of firm) but it is difficult to control all such variation. A careful specification of the growth process of firms (despite Penrose ( 1959 ) and her heirs) still eludes us.

In concluding this section, it should be mentioned that cliometrics, or the measurement of history (also called the New Economic History) is not uncontroversial (Diebolt 2012 ). ‘Hypothetico-deductive models’ (utilising the counterfactual position) using ‘propositions contrary to the facts has not escaped criticism’ (Diebolt 2012 , p. 4), and they contrast with the inductive position of the German historical school (Grimmer-Solem 2003 ). The economistic tradition of ‘opportunity cost’ whereby the true costs of any action is the best alternative foregone, provides a firm philosophical link between economics and the counterfactual as discussed below.

2.3 Comparative Methods

The comparative method is of great importance throughout the social sciences. There are three classic comparators in social science research: across space, across time, and against a carefully specified counterfactual state of the world (Buckley et al. 1992 ). International business research has traditionally focused on just one of these—across space. Historical research specialises particularly in comparisons across time, but also has lessons in spatial comparison and in counterfactual analysis.

Research that depends on ex post statistical adjustment (such as cross-country regressions) has recently come under fire; there has been a commensurate shift of focus towards design-based research—in which control over confounding variables comes primarily from research design, rather than model-based statistical adjustment (Dunning 2012 , p. xvii).

The design of a randomised controlled experiment has three characteristics (Freedman et al. 2007 , pp. 4–8):

The response of the experimental subjects assigned to receive a treatment is compared to the response of subjects assigned to a control group. This allows comparisons of outcomes across the two groups.

The assignment of subjects to treatment and control groups is done at random—a coin toss, for example. This establishes ex ante symmetry between the groups and obviates the existence of confounding variables.

The manipulation of the treatment or intervention is under the control of the experimental research. This establishes further evidence for a causal relationship between the treatment and the outcomes (Dunning 2012 , p. 15).

Crucially most extant research utilises ‘as if random’ assignment of interventions rather than ‘natural’. Its success depends upon the plausibility of ‘as if random’, the credibility of models and the relevance of intervention. ‘Qualitative evidence plays a central role in the analysis of natural experiments’ (Dunning 2012 , p. 228). This is because an investigation of the causal process is critical (Collier et al. 2010 ) in avoiding ‘selecting on the dependent’ variable by analysing only those cases where causal-process observations appear to have played a productive inferential role. Indeed, Dunning ( 2012 , p. 229) suggests that a future research agenda should focus on developing a framework that distinguishes and predicts when and what kinds of causal-process observations provide the most useful leverage for causal inference in natural experiments. Results however may be very particular and parochial because of the limited availability of natural experiment possibilities (Yin 2014 ). Experimental results, therefore, come at a price.

The price for success is a focus that is too narrow and too local to tell us ‘what works’ in development, to design policy, or to advance scientific knowledge about development processes (Deaton 2009 , p. 426).

Comparison across places by geographic area or space is frequent in international business research (across nations, cultures, regions, areas, cities). The multinational enterprise is an excellent laboratory or natural experiment because it holds constant the single institution of the firm but varies the location of study. The division, and the later unification, of Germany allowed Kogut and Zander ( 2000 ) the opportunity to conduct a natural experiment by comparing the two sections of the Zeiss Company under socialism and capitalism. The experimental design measured the dependent variable (outcome)—the technological output of the two firms proxied by patents—under ‘treatments’ offered by the different economic contexts of the two different economic systems. This unusual design substituted for a random sample by eliminating the effects of extraneous factors and isolating the effects of the treatment variable on the ‘same’ firm. Comparative management experiments can be done by comparing company A’s subsidiary in Vietnam with its subsidiary in Virginia. This is the stock-in-trade of many international business experiments and was utilised by Hofstede ( 1991 , 1997 , 2001 ), whose work on culture held the host company (IBM) culture constant whilst varying the purported national cultural responses of the firm’s employees.

Comparisons across time, holding place constant, are the essence of ‘history’. They give rise to notions of ‘growth’, ‘progress’, ‘design’, ‘loss’. Chandler ( 1984 ) describes his method as the comparison of detailed case studies to generate ‘non historically specific generalizations’. Research in business history has challenged the Chandler thesis that managerial capitalism is universally becoming the norm (Whittington 2007 ; Rowlinson et al. 2007 ). Hannah ( 2007 ) illustrates the use of comparative historical data to challenge the received wisdom. As noted elsewhere in this piece, such comparisons are fraught with danger unless carefully conducted. Meanings of documents, words, artefacts and statements vary according to different point of time usage and must be carefully analysed as best practice historical research dictates. As Ragin says ( 1987 , p. 27),

many features of social life confound attempts to unravel causal complexity when experimental methods cannot be used… First, rarely does an outcome of interest to social scientists have a single cause… Second, causes rarely operate in isolation. Usually, it is the combined effect of various conditions their intersection in time and space, that produces a certain outcome… Third, a specific cause may have opposite effects depending on context.

These three factors—multiple, interacting causes, differential by context—are the very essence of international business research. Because of the difficulty of designing natural experiments International business research has emphasised statistical control in its methods. Ragin ( 1987 ) points out that statistical control is very different from experimental control. Footnote 7 Statistical control does not equate to experimental control: ‘the dependent variable is not examined under all possible combinations of values of the independent variables, as is possible in experimental investigations’ (Ragin 1987 , p. 61). Ragin presents a Boolean approach to qualitative comparison (after George Boole ( 2003 ) [1854] and also known as the algebra of logic or algebra of sets). Kogut ( 2009 ) shows the relevance of this approach to international business research (see also Saka-Helmhout 2011 ). A recent development of the use of Boolean algebra in international business is the application of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis in the assessment of different models of capitalism (Judge et al. 2014 ).

Qualitative comparisons are of the essence in (historical) international business research. As Kogut ( 2009 ) shows, a proposition based on a three-cause explanation in order to avoid simplifying assumptions at the outset requires a truth table of 2 3 or eight combinations as in Fig.  1 . Thus, to achieve experimental control, the investigation needs eight cases with the characteristics shown in the table in order to determine which combination of causes (A, B, C) determines the outcome (1). (See Ragin 1987 , particularly Chapters 7 and 8.) Thus historical comparative data can focus our attention on cases as wholes and to explore the combinatorial complexities of causation (Ragin 1987 , p. 171). Footnote 8 It is also suggestive of the answer to the perennial question of how many cases are needed to satisfy a proposition. For instance, it might be suggested that the rise of Japan was due to (1) lifetime work contracts, (2) company unions and (3) the Keiretsu system. In order to prove or disprove the argument, the bottom line where all three proposed casual factors are present must be contrasted with situations where none of them are present (the top line) where only one of the proposed causes is present and where combinations of two causes are present. This enables the analyst to identify necessary and sufficient conditions. In a three cause theoretical proposal, a total of eight cases are needed.

Truth table for a three cause proposition

As Mahoney ( 2004 , p. 82) says, ‘comparative-historical methodology offers tools well adapted to the analysis of necessary and sufficient causes’. This need not rely on deterministic logic because necessary and sufficient causes can be expressed in a probabilistic framework. This also aligns with expressing variables in a continuous rather than in a dichotomous fashion. These techniques are helpful, as Saka-Helmhout ( 2011 ) points out, in analysing cross-case analyses of bundles of conditions, in particular in the identification of patterns of regularities and differences. The methodological stream (and theoretical underpinnings) of comparative historical research therefore lead to the more systematic pinpointing of necessary and sufficient causes in international business case research. For applications to management research, see Oz ( 2004 ).

2.4 Counterfactual Analysis

The third classic comparator is the ‘alternative position’. The counterfactual question—‘what if?’—is a particular type of thought experiment designed to elucidate causality. It is widely (if sometimes unwittingly) used in economics where ‘opportunity cost’ (the real cost of resources) is defined as the cost of the next best alternative foregone. The ‘alternative position’ and its specification have long been a particular problem in international business research—classically in the analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI). What would have happened in the absence of a particular foreign investment? (Reddaway et al. 1968 ; Steuer 1973 ; Cairncross 1953 ; Buckley et al. 1992 , p. 36). Jones and Khanna ( 2006 , p. 464) say that a ‘comparative approach also gets at the spirit of specifying counterfactuals’.

Historians have long had to face this issue. Several variously sophisticated attempts have been made to try to answer the question of what would (might) have happened had some of the crucial turning points of history turned out differently (Beatty 2011 ; Ferguson 1997 ; Cowley 1999 ; Lebow 2014 ). Lebow ( 2012 ) points out that counterfactuals are frequently used in physical and biological sciences to develop and evaluate sophisticated, non-linear models. The counterfactual has to be well defined and this requires a thorough analysis and presentation of the context of the alternative position. Such thought experiments are perhaps history’s closest comparator to a laboratory experiment (Gaddis 2002 , p. 100)—although see the section on natural experiments in the social sciences above. The counterfactual counteracts the static nature of much historical analysis by focusing upon dynamics and processes.

Durand and Vaara ( 2009 , p. 1245) have examined the role of counterfactuals in explicating causality in the field of business strategy. They argue that:

Counterfactual history can add to our understanding of the context-specific construction of resource-based competitive advantage and path dependence, and causal modelling can help to reconceptualize the relationships between resources and performance.

The role of counterfactual reasoning in organisation studies was also explored in two issues of Management & Organizational History [volume 3(1) 2008 and volume 4(2) 2007]. MacKay ( 2007 ) pointed out that counterfactuals can guard against path dependencies in both structure of organisations and perception. Counterfactuals illustrate that the world could be other than it is and help the analyst to evaluate different possibilities including decisions and their outcomes. Thus socio-economic and technical path dependencies can introduce rigidities and cognitive or psychological path dependencies can impair organisational learning. Toms and Beck ( 2007 ) criticise received counterfactuals (on the Lancashire cotton industry) as suffering from the problems of teleology and hindsight that occur when the counterfactual is contaminated by ex post knowledge of the outcome (Maielli and Booth 2008 ). Footnote 9 Toms and Beck ( 2007 , p. 315) attempt to construct a history ‘from the perspective of decision making entrepreneurs as embedded historical actors’. This is surely the model for internationalisation researchers, when examining past decisions and their outcome.

The key, as Leunig ( 2010 ) points out, is to be explicit in specifying the counterfactual position as this provides more evidence than a simple judgement on the impact of (say) a critical innovation. Fogel ( 1964 ) in finding that agricultural land opened up by the railroads might otherwise have been undeveloped, examined the possibility of an alternative network of canals. Footnote 10 This was done not by simple perusal of a map but by examining detailed typographical maps, as a canal builder would do. A limitation of counterfactual analysis is the ability to go on to use comparative analysis because the carefully constructed counterfactual is often locationally or temporally specific. For instance, although in Fogel’s counterfactual, canals could have done most of the work of railroads, he assumed away the vagaries of the weather—in the Northeast of the US at least, canals would have been frozen for at least 4 months of the year. Footnote 11 An excellent example of a carefully constructed counterfactual is Casson’s construction of the (optimal) counterfactual railway network (complete with timetable) for the UK taking account of network performance, the physical geography of the UK, Victorian urbanisation and traffic, engineering constraints, regulation, institutional and political constraints (Casson 2009 ).

The counterfactual has an important place in the development of international business theory as analyses of the impact of FDI on host and source countries have been cast in the terms of the ‘alternative position’—what would have happened in the absence of FDI. Foreshadowing the current debate an offshoring and outsourcing, earlier literature on the impact of FDI following Hufbauer and Adler ( 1968 ) identified three polar ‘alternative positions’ (Buckley and Artisien 1987 , pp. 73, 78–79, 80).

The classical assumption assumes that FDI produces a net addition to capital formation in the host country but a similar decline in capital formation in the source country. This is equivalent to the assumption that FDI substitutes for exports. The reverse classical assumption assumes that the FDI substitutes for investment in the host country but leaves investment in the source country unchanged. This is equivalent to ‘defensive investment’ where the source country firm cannot penetrate the target market via exports and would lose the market to host country firms in the absence of FDI. The anti-classical assumption is that FDI does not substitute for capital investment in the source country, neither does it reduce investment by host country firms. Consequently FDI increases world capital formation (in contrast to the other two assumptions where world capital formation is unchanged).

Anticlassical conditions are most likely when host country firms are incapable of undertaking the projects fulfilled by FDI. Each of these assumptions is static and rigid—not allowing for a growth of demand, perhaps from the ‘presence effect’. An organic model, postulating that FDI substitutes for exports in the short run, but in the long run substitutes for rival investment is more likely. Hood and Young ( 1979 ) pointed out that the relationship between FDI and exports needs to be fully specified in any such examination of effects of FDI.

This debate needs to be updated as it predated studies of MNEs’ foreign market servicing strategies and motives other than market-seeking. A parallel move away from economic counterfactuals towards specifying alternative decision making scenarios for decision-making entrepreneurs would be a step forward here (Toms and Beck 2007 ). A further important question here concerns the identity of the decision maker and whether ownership (foreign versus domestic) matters. As concern with the employment impact of FDI at home and abroad grows, counterfactual analysis is useful in specifying the myriad impacts (employment among them) of modern MNEs.

The ‘historical alternatives approach’ (Zeitlin 2007 ) is a specifically business history variant of counterfactual analysis. The historical alternatives approach is promoted by Zeitlin ( 2007 ) as ‘against teleology and determinism’. The approach suggests that plasticity of technology has been underrated, leading to technological determinism of a particularly narrow type. Strategic action in the face of uncertainty, mutability and hedging strategies gives a far wider range of outcomes than conventionally allowed for and ‘the market’ is dogmatically and narrowly the result of historical construction. Size of firms, strategic action, industry imperatives and rationality are too glibly taken as determining factors and the result is an excessively pre-determined view of business choices. While it is certainly the case that many analyses based on historical reasoning are unduly constrained in terms of other potential outcomes, alternative futures have to be specified extremely carefully and constraints that are to be lifted on outcomes must be spelled out and the degree to which they are assumed to be not binding requires extensive and meticulous research.

In internationalisation research, alternative positions are important concepts in the development of the process. The decisions that key managers make can be evaluated by presenting them with alternative scenarios, as Buckley et al. ( 2007 ) did. This is usually, for practical and cost reasons, a point-of-time rather than a continuous exercise even though, in principle, these choices could be presented to managers frequently throughout the internationalisation process. There are examples of where a single investment is considered as a ‘Go/No go’ decision and others where several alternative investments are simultaneously considered (Buckley et al. 1978 ). In many cases firms will themselves investigate alternative scenarios even if this is done informally rather than through ‘scenario planning’.

3 Discussion

Table  1 shows the areas where the four key methods identified above have been successfully applied in international business.

The application of the above principles of method suggests that a new international business history is called for that relies on the two key principles of examining change over time and using the comparative method. If we accept that the study of history is about change over time, then international business history needs to take a long-run view of change and of the role of multinational firms in large scale social and economic development. This presents a major challenge in view of the material in archives. Company archives cover the world from the point of view of the (single) company. In international business this represents only one actor in a complex drama. The roles of host and source countries are perforce omitted. It behoves the writers of international company histories to take a wider perspective than just the company’s viewpoint. In approaching the comparative method, the spatial comparison encompasses the international dimension but changes over time require a longer run view than most company histories allow for. Comparing the role of a company in the eighteenth century with the nineteenth is not often possible from a single company’s archives (and it can be argued, were this to be so, we would be dealing with an outlier). In short, the writing of international business history needs to be more imaginative, not only in method but also in its engagement with wider theory and technique.

It is equally the case that international business theory and methods can enrich historical research. Footnote 12 In addition to the Chitu et al. ( 2013 ) examination of ‘history effects’ in international finance and trade, international business can be focused on global history in the way that Bell and Dale ( 2011 ) analysed the economic and financial dimensions of the medieval pilgrimage business (using contract and network theory and the analysis of saints’ shrines as business franchise, under an umbrella brand of the Universal Catholic Church).

3.1 Historical Research Approaches and the Internationalisation Process

The question of how firm internationalisation evolves over time is best answered by the careful use of historical research methods duly adapted for the context of international business research (Jones and Zeitlin 2007 ) . The temporal dimension of the internationalisation process needs to be centre-stage and critical decision points and turning points need to be mapped on a timeline and against feasible alternatives. As extant international business research has shown (Buckley et al. 2007 ), managers are only partly guided by rational processes and context and contingency play roles in determining the final decisions. If we know when these critical decisions are made, then it becomes much easier to understand the factors that were in play in the decision makers’ minds. It is frequently remarked that key ‘events’ (a coup, the launch of a rival’s product, a competitive market entry) were the triggers for investment (or non-investment) decisions and a timeline of events—a mapping of process—can be a key to understanding. The temporal sequencing of ‘events’ in the internationalisation process is clearly vital to comprehension of the firm’s strategy and decisions. As well as time, at a given place, we need to add place at a given time for all these events. Thus a double comparative across time and space is necessary for a rounded understanding of outcomes.

Process research also needs to comprehend simultaneous processes as there is not just one sequence of events in internationalisation; rather, there are multiple. Selection of processes to track has to be theoretically driven. Process research cannot stand apart from the theory, it is has to be fully engaged with the appropriate theories and to feed back into them (Paavilainen-Mantymaki and Welch 2013 ). This is fully in accord with Pettigrew’s ( 1997 ) approach to processual analysis. Moreover, as Pettigrew ( 1997 , p. 340) says, ‘The time quality of a processual analysis thereby lies in linking processes to outcomes’. Linking internationalisation processes to outcomes (performance) is a missing element in our understanding—the results of the managerial decisions form an essential element of a feedback loop to further internationalisation.

The four generic methods applied in historical research outlined here—source criticism, time series analysis, the use of comparative methods and counterfactual analysis—are all vital in constructing a proper process analysis of the internationalisation of the firm (or of a firm’s internationalisation). It is fundamental that a critical appraisal of all sources be undertaken, be they company statements, archives, documents or interviews. Wherever possible these should be triangulated against other sources. Nothing should be taken on trust and, if it has to be, this should be clearly stated. Wherever possible, a timeline of relevant events should be made in order to sequence the decision processes and outcomes. The construction of multiple timelines—of different managers, sub-units of the firm and other key actors (such as competitors, agents, customers, suppliers, governmental bodies, support agencies) should be compared and contrasted. The coincidence in time of actions by interested parties is prima facie evidence of joint causality. These techniques can be extended by the use of comparisons not only in time but in space. The geographical mapping of actions and outcomes gives richness to the process analysis. The transmission and impact of decisions from one geographical point (e.g., headquarters) to another (a subsidiary, a potential takeover victim), the time-lags involved and the reaction time of the recipient are all vital in understanding internationalisation. Counterfactual analysis, too, can be a useful tool. Firms often approach internationalisation decisions with a number of contingencies. If they cannot acquire foreign firm X, should they turn to Y, or to a greenfield venture instead? These alternatives are useful to know and it may be possible to construct feasible alternative internationalisation paths.

In summary, historical research methods and approaches provide a research design for internationalisation process studies that enhance the depth of understanding by incorporating concrete timelines, alternatives and decision processes.

3.2 A New Concept of Internationalisation

The new concept of internationalisation that emerges from a consideration of the light shed by historical research on managerial processes is that internationalisation is the outcome of a set of decisions, dependent on context and previous decisions, considering alternative locations, entry and development methods in a choice set of time and space. In these sequential decisions, knowledge of past decisions and their outcomes plays a part in the next round of decisions. Hence companies can create ‘vicious circles’ or ‘virtuous circles’ in their internationalisation processes. In this sense, a knowledge of history of the company making the decision and of similar companies making comparable decisions can be valuable for the manager. History matters to decision-makers as well as analysts. The question of when to take history into account and when to ignore it and ‘take a chance’ is the essence of managerial judgement (and of ‘real options theory’—see Kogut and Kulatilaka 2001 ; Buckley et al. 2002 ). Those who make regular correct calls will develop a ‘track record’ and be valued accordingly. Thus both the weight of history and the judgement of successful individuals will build path dependence into the internationalisation process.

The research approach formulated in this article encompasses the Uppsala approach to internationalisation (Johanson and Vahlne 1977 , 2009 ) as a special case. The Uppsala approach has no explicit role for time. It explains market entry as a sequence which is determined by psychic proximity to the source country in a loose path dependent fashion. A more careful specification of the relationship between market entry and psychic distance and an explicit acknowledgement of the role of time would allow a fully historical analysis of market entry sequencing in the Uppsala tradition.

4 Conclusion: The Response to the Challenge of Historical Research

The last sentences of Butterfield’s ( 1965 , p. 132) The Whig Interpretation of History encompasses the challenge of historical research methods: ‘In other words, the truth of history is no simple matter, all packed and parcelled ready for handling in the market-place. And the understanding of the past is not so easy as it is sometimes made to appear’. Historical research methods can help international business researchers to be more questioning, analytical and critical and to think laterally in terms of alternative states of the world, different choices and outcomes. There is a justifiable argument that international business research is insufficiently critical of ‘texts’ in all their forms—company statements, official statistics, interviews with managers among them—and historical research has a number of techniques for improving the penetration of meaning behind texts, as this piece has shown.

In using research methods derived from history we must always factor in ‘Contingency, choice and agency’ (Clark 2012 , p. 362). We should also remember that history interacts with geography—context is crucial. To quote the historian Peter Brown’s work on wealth in the early Christian period, ‘A true history of Latin Christianity requires an unremitting sense of place’ (Brown 2012 , p. xxii). A good example relevant to international business is the combined use of historical, geographical and sectoral data by Becuwe, Blancheton and Charles ( 2012 ) in analysing the decline of French trade power in the ‘first globalization’ of 1850–1913. A sense of place involves understanding both the global macro context and the particular location.

There is an awkward disjunction between traditional historical research and hypothetico-deductive modelling. This is paralleled by the lack of integration between quantitative and qualitative methods in international business research, arising from their philosophical bases in positivism and subjectivism. The careful integration of historical research methods into international business provides us with one channel of progress towards a more complete understanding of the phenomena of international business.

In the particular case of the analysis of the internationalisation of the firm, historical approaches place managerial judgement central to the process. Such judgement, however, is constrained by context. This context is both temporal and spatial. ‘When’ and ‘where’ matter in both an individual decision and the analysis of decisions. The use of the plural here implies sequencing and therefore a focus on process. The choice set faced by the manager is constrained by what has gone before—by history. This does not determine the next decision in the sequence but it influences it. The new concept of internationalisation is that sequence, not events, are at the heart of the international growth of the firm, that spatial issues (including psychic distance to a potential host country) must be accounted for, and that past decisions constrain outcomes.

On the importance of methodology (in international business as elsewhere) we can end with a quote from Kogut ( 2009 , p. 711): ‘It is one of the best-kept secrets of research that a methodological contribution is the most powerful engine for the replication and diffusion of an idea’.

It is suggested by Cannadine ( 2013 , p. 9) that academic histories are often responsible for emphasising divergences rather than similarities: ‘Most academics are trained to look for divergences and disparities rather than for similarities and affinities, but this relentless urge to draw distinctions often results in important connections and resemblances being overlooked’. The contrast between history and social science has been an issue for over a century (see Simiand 1903 ).

See also the debate on the ‘historic turn’ in organisation studies (Clark and Rowlinson 2004 ).

Stephanie Decker ( 2013 , p. 6) identified four features that ‘clearly distinguish historical from non-historical research designs’. These are: reconstruction from primary sources (empirical rigour), thick contextualisation in time and space (empirical at times, theoretical rigour), periodization (theoretical rigour when combined with strong historiography) and historical narrative (accessibility, empirical and theoretical rigours).

For an excellent review of the use (and extension) of archive material see Wilkins and Hill ( 2011 ) ‘Bibliographical Essay’ pp. 445–458.

See also Schwarzkopf ( 2012 ).

Belich notes, of trying to identify ‘emigrants’ and their opinions: ‘This problem of the silent majority is, of course, endemic in the social history of ideas. The standard solution, not one to be despised in the absence of alternatives, is to pile up available examples of opinions in the vague hope that these are typical. Once possible refinement is the analysis of the conceptual language of substantial groups of lesser writers who are trying to persuade their still-larger target audience to do something’ (Belich 2009 , p. 148 f.).

‘In most statistical analyses, the effect of a control variable is its average effect on the dependent variable, across all cases, not of the effects of other variables. The subtraction of effects central to statistical control is a purely mechanical operation predicted on simplifying assumptions. It is assumed in multiple regression, for example, that a variable’s effect is the same in each case—that a one-unit change in an independent variable has the same effect on the dependent variable regardless of context, that is, regardless variable’s effect by simple subtraction. The result is a dependent variable whose values have been “corrected” for the effects of one or more independent variables’ (Ragin 1987 , p. 59).

For a full discussion of varieties of comparative history, see Skocpol and Somers ( 1980 ).

See Evans ( 2014 ) for a critical appraisal of counterfactuals.

As a referee points out, Fogel was not posing the ‘what if’ question but rather ‘by how much less would the US economy have grown if there had been no railways’.

I owe this point to Geoff Jones (personal communication 09.07.2013).

Kobrak and Schneider ( 2011 ) make a call for a renewal of historical research methods in business history, ‘reviving some basic historiographical notions’ (p. 401).

Barthes, R. (2005). Criticism and truth. Translated and edited by K. P. Keueman . London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Google Scholar  

Beatty, J. (2011). The lost history of 1914: How the Great War was not inevitable . London: Bloomsbury.

Becuwe, S., Blancheton, D., & Charles, L. (2012). The decline of French trade power during the first globalization (1850 – 1913 ) (pp. 2012–2022). Cahiers du Gretha: Université de Bordeaux.

Belich, J. (2009). Replenishing the earth: The settler revolution and the rise of the Angle-World 1783–1939 . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Bell, A. R., & Dale, R. S. (2011). The medieval pilgrimage business. Enterprise and Society, 12 (3), 601–627.

Article   Google Scholar  

Berlin, I. (1960). History and theory. The concept of scientific history. History and Theory, 1 (1), 1–31.

Bloch, M. (1954). The historian’s craft. Translated Peter Putman . Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Boole, G. (2003). [1854] An investigation of the laws of thought, on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities . Amherst: Prometheus Books.

Brown, P. (2012). Through the eye of a needle: Wealth, the fall of Rome and the making of Christianity in the West 350–550 AD . Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Buckley, P. J., & Artisien, P. (1987). North-south direct investment in the European communities: The employment impact of direct investment by British, French and German multinationals in Greece, Portugal and Spain . Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Buckley, P. J., Casson, M. C., & Gulamhussen, M. A. (2002). Internationalisation—Real options, knowledge management and the Uppsala Approach. In V. Havila, M. Forsgren, & H. Hakansson (Eds.), Critical perspectives on internationalisation (pp. 229–261). Oxford: Elsevier.

Buckley, P. J., Devinney, T. M., & Louviere, J. J. (2007). Do managers behave the way theory suggests? A choice-theoretic examination of foreign direct investment location decision-making. Journal of International Business Studies, 38 (7), 1069–1094.

Buckley, P J., Newbould, G. D., & Thurwell, J. (1978). Going international—The experience of smaller companies overseas . London: Associated Business Press/New York: Halsted Press.

Buckley, P. J., Pass, C. L., & Prescott, K. (1992). Servicing international markets: Competitive strategies of firms . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Buckley, P. J., & Pearce, R. D. (1991). International aspects of UK economic activities: Reviews of UK statistical sources . Review No 44, Volume XXVI Royal Statistical Society/Economic and Social Research Council. London: Chapman and Hall.

Burgelman, R. A. (2011). Bridging history and reductionism: A key role for longitudinal qualitative research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42 (5), 591–601.

Butterfield, H. (1965). The Whig interpretation of history . New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. (Original 1931) .

Cairncross, A. (1953). Home and foreign investment . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cannadine, D. (2013). The undivided past: History beyond our differences . London: Allen Lane.

Casson, M. (2009). The world’s first railway system . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure: Chapters in the history of the American industrial enterprise . Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chandler, A. D. (1984). Comparative business history. In D. C. Coleman & P. Mathias (Eds.), Enterprise and history: Essays in honour of Charles Wilson (pp. 473–503). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chitu, L., Eichengreen, B., & Mehl, A. J. (2013). History, gravity and international finance . National Bureau of Economic Research Working paper 18697, Washington D.C.

Clark, C. (2012). The sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914 . London: Allen Lane.

Clark, P., & Rowlinson, M. (2004). The treatment of history in organisation studies: Towards an ‘historic turn’? Business History, 43 (3), 331–352.

Collier, D., Brady, H. E., & Seawright, J. (2010). Sources of leverage in causal inference: Towards an alternative view of methodology. In H. E. Brady & D. Collier (Eds.), Rethinking social enquiry: Diverse tools, shared standards (2nd ed., pp. 229–266). New York: Rowman and Lillefield.

Cowley, R. (Ed.). (1999). What if? . New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Deaton, A. (2009). Instruments of development: Randomization in the tropics, and the search for the elusive keys to economic development. The Keynes Lecture . London: British Academy.

Decker, S. (2013). The silence of the archive: Post-colonialism and the practice of historical reconstruction from archival evidence. Management and Organisational History, 8 (2), 155–173.

Derrida, J. (1994). Specters of Marx. Translated Peggy Kamuf . New York: Routledge.

Diebolt, C. (2012). The cliometric voice . Association Française de Cliométrie. Working paper No. 12.

Dunning, T. (2012). Natural experiments in the social sciences . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Durand, R., & Vaara, E. (2009). Causation, counterfactuals and competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 30 (12), 1245–1264.

Easterlin, R. A. (2013). Cross sections are history . IZA discussion paper No. 7341.

Evans, L. J. (2014). Altered pasts: Counterfactuals in history . London: Little, Brown.

Ferguson, N. (Ed.). (1997). Virtual history: Alternatives and counterfactuals . London: Picador.

Fogel, R. W. (1964). Railroads and American economic growth: Essays in econometric history . Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins Press.

Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization. Translated R. Howard . New York: Pantheon.

Freedman, D., Pisani, R., & Purves, R. (2007). Statistics (4th ed.). New York: W. W. Norton Inc.

Gaddis, J. L. (2002). The landscape of history: How historians map the past . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gottschalk, L. (1950). Understanding history: A primer of historical method . New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Gramsci, A. (1973). Selections from the prison notebooks. Edited by Q. Hoare and G. Nowell Smith. New York: International Publishers.

Granger, C. W. J. (1988). Causality, cointegration and control. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 12 (2), 551–559.

Granger, C. W. J., & Newbold, P. (1974). Spurious regressions in econometrics. Journal of Econometrics, 2 (2), 111–120.

Green, W. A. (1993). History, historians and the dynamics of change . Westport: Praeger.

Gregory, B. S. (2012). The unintended reformation: How a religious revolution secularized society . Cambridge: Belking Press of Harvard University.

Grimmer-Solem, E. (2003). The rise of historical economics and social reform in Germany 1864–1894 . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Haggerty, S. (2012). ‘Merely for money?’ Business culture in the British Atlantic 1750–1815 . Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

Hannah, L. (2007). The ‘divorce’ of ownership from control from 1900 onwards: Re-calibrating imagined global trends. Business History, 49 (4), 404–438.

Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organisations: Software of the mind . London: McGraw Hill.

Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and organisations: Software of the mind . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviours, institutions and organisations across nations (2d ed.). New York: Sage Publications.

Hood, N., & Young, S. (1979). The economics of international business . London: Longman.

Hufbauer, G. C., & Adler, F. (1968). US manufacturing investment and the balance of payments . Washington, DC: US Treasury Department.

Hymer, S. H. (1976). The international operations of national firms: Study of foreign direct investment . Cambridge: MIT Press.

Jackson, J. E., & Kollman, K. (2010). A formulation of path dependence with an empirical example. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 5 (3), 257–289.

Johanson, J., & Vahlne, J. E. (1977). The internationalization process of the firm: A model of knowledge development and increasing foreign market commitments. Journal of International Business Studies, 8 (1), 23–32.

Johanson, J., & Vahlne, J. E. (2009). The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership. Journal of International Business Studies, 40 (9), 1411–1431.

Jones, G. (1998). Company history and business history in the 1990s . University of Reading discussion papers in economics and management (series A), p. 383.

Jones, G. (2000). Merchants to multinationals. British trading companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, G., & Khanna, T. (2006). Bringing history (back) into international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 37 (4), 453–468.

Jones, G., & Zeitlin, J. (Eds.). (2007). The Oxford handbook of business history . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Judge, W. Q., Fainshmidt, S., & Brown, J. L. (2014). Which model of capitalism best delivers both wealth and equality? Journal of International Business Studies, 45 (4), 363–386.

Kipping, M., Wadhwani, R. D., & Bucheli, M. (2014). Analyzing and interpreting historical sources: A basic methodology. In M. Bucheli & R. D. Wadhwani (Eds.), Organizations in time: History, theory, methods (pp. 305–329). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kobrak, C., & Schneider, A. (2011). Varieties of business history: Subject and methods for the twenty-first century. Business History, 53 (3), 401–424.

Kogut, B. (2009). Methodological contributions in international business and the direction of academic research activity. In A. Rugman (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of international business (2nd ed., pp. 711–739). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kogut, B., & Kulatilaka, N. (2001). Capabilities as real options. Organization Science, 12 (6), 744–758.

Kogut, B., & Parkinson, D. (1998). Adoption of the multidivisional structure: Analysing history from the start. Industrial and Corporate Change, 7 (2), 249–273.

Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (2000). Did socialism fail to innovate? A natural experiment of the two Zeiss companies. American Sociological Review, 65 (2), 169–190.

Laidler, D. (2012). Today’s standards and yesterday’s economics—two short occasional essays—eliminating history from economic thought and Mark Blaug on the quantity theory . Economic Policy Research Institute working paper series 2012–6, University of Western Ontario.

Lebow, R. N. (2012). Counterfactual thought experiments: A necessary teaching tool. The History Teacher, 40 (2), 153–176.

Lebow, R. N. (2014). Archduke Franz Ferdinand lives! . New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Leunig, T. (2010). Social savings. Journal of Economic Surveys, 24 (5), 775–800.

Ludden, D. (Ed.). (2001). Reading subaltern studies: Critical history, contested meaning and the globalization of South Asia . London: Anthem Press.

MacKay, R. B. (2007). ‘What if’: Synthesising debates and advancing prospects of using virtual history in management and organization theory. Management & Organizational History, 2 (4), 295–314.

Mahoney, J. (2004). Comparative-historical methodology. Annual Review of Sociology, 30 , 81–101.

Maielli, G., & Booth, C. (2008). Counterfactual history, management and organizations: Reflections and new directions. Management & Organizational History, 3 (1), 49–61.

Moss, M. (1997). Archives, the historian and the future. In M. Bentley (Ed.), Companion to historiography (pp. 960–973). London: Routledge.

Nickell, S. (1981). Biases in dynamic models with fixed effects. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 49 (6), 1417–1426.

O’Rourke, K., & Williamson, G. (1999). Globalization and history: The evolution of a nineteenth-century Atlantic economy . Cambridge: MIT Press.

Oz, O. (2004). Using Boolean—and fuzzy-logic-based methods to analyse multiple case study evidence in management research. Journal of Management Inquiry, 13 (2), 166–179.

Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, E., & Welch, C. (2013). How to escape an unprocessual legacy? A viewpoint from international business research. In M. E. Hassett & E. Paavilainen-Mäntymäki (Eds.), Handbook of longitudinal research methods in organisation and business studies (pp. 229–248). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Page, S. E. (2006). Path dependence. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 1 (1), 87–115.

Penrose, E. T. (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Pettigrew, A. M. (1997). What is processual analysis? Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13 (4), 337–348.

Ragin, C. C. (1987). The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies . Berkeley: University of California Press.

Reddaway, W. B., et al. (1968). Effects of UK direct investment overseas: Final report . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rowlinson, M., Toms, S., & Wilson, J. F. (2007). Competing perspectives on the ‘managerial revolution’: from ‘managerialist’ to ‘anti-managerialist’. Business History, 49 (4), 464–482.

Saka-Helmhout, A. (2011). Comparative historical analysis in international management research. In R. Piekkari & C. Welch (Eds.), Rethinking the case study in international business and management research (pp. 383–407). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Schwarzkopf, S. (2012). Why business historians need a constructive theory of the archive. Business Archives, 105 (November), 1–9.

Shaver, J. M. (1998). Accounting for endogeneity when assessing strategy performance: Does entry mode choice affect FDI survival? Management Science, 44 (4), 571–585.

Simiand, F. J. (1903). Méthode historique et sciences socials. Revue de Synthèse Historique, 6 , 1–22.

Skocpol, T., & Somers, M. (1980). The uses of comparative history in macrosocial inquiry. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 22 (2), 174–197.

Snyder, T. (2010). Bloodlands: Europe between Stalin and Hitler . London: The Bodley Head.

Steuer, M.D. et al. (1973). The impact of foreign direct investment on the U.K . London: HMSO.

Stinchcombe, A. L. (1965). Social structure and organisations. In J. G. March (Ed.), Handbook of organizations (pp. 142–193). Chicago: Rand-McNally.

Tilley, C. (1983). Big structure, large processes, huge comparisons . New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Toms, S., & Beck, M. (2007). The limitations of economic counterfactuals: The case of the Lancashire textile industry. Management & Organizational History, 2 (4), 315–330.

Welch, C., & Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, E. (2014). Putting process (back) in: Research on the internationalization process of the firm. International Journal of Management Reviews , 16 (1), 2–23.

Whittington, R. (2007). Introduction: Comparative perspectives on the managerial revolution. Business History, 49 (4), 399–403.

Wilkins, M., & Hill, F. E. (2011). American business abroad: Ford on six continents . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Original edition 1964 Wayne State University Press) .

Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Zaheer, S. (1995). Overcoming the liability of foreignness. Academy of Management Journal, 38 (2), 341–363.

Zeitlin, J. (2007). The historical alternatives approach. In G. Jones & J. Zeitlin (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of business history (pp. 120–140). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Download references

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for comments on earlier versions from Chris Clark (Cambridge), Simon Ball (Leeds), Andrew Thompson (Exeter), Niall Ferguson (Harvard), Jeremy Black (Exeter), Mark Casson (Reading), Janet Casson (Oxford), Catherine Casson (Birmingham), Jonathan Steinberg (Pennsylvania), Catherine Welch (Sydney), Adrian Bell (Reading), Peter Miskell (Reading), Stephanie Decker (Aston), Geoffrey Jones (Harvard), Mira Wilkins (Florida International University), an anonymous reviewer for the AIBUK 2013 Conference at Aston University, participants at AIBUK Aston 2013, three anonymous reviewers for AIB 2013 and participants at the AIB Conference, Istanbul, July 2013, two anonymous referees and particularly to the editors of this Focused Issue.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Centre for International Business, University of Leeds (CIBUL), Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, England, UK

Peter J. Buckley

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter J. Buckley .

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Buckley, P.J. Historical Research Approaches to the Analysis of Internationalisation. Manag Int Rev 56 , 879–900 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-016-0300-0

Download citation

Received : 31 October 2013

Revised : 07 May 2015

Accepted : 26 May 2015

Published : 29 September 2016

Issue Date : December 2016

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-016-0300-0

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

  • Historical research methods
  • Internationalisation
  • Process research
  • Business history
  • Find a journal
  • Publish with us
  • Track your research
  • Architecture and Design
  • Asian and Pacific Studies
  • Business and Economics
  • Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
  • Computer Sciences
  • Cultural Studies
  • Engineering
  • General Interest
  • Geosciences
  • Industrial Chemistry
  • Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
  • Jewish Studies
  • Library and Information Science, Book Studies
  • Life Sciences
  • Linguistics and Semiotics
  • Literary Studies
  • Materials Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Social Sciences
  • Sports and Recreation
  • Theology and Religion
  • Publish your article
  • The role of authors
  • Promoting your article
  • Abstracting & indexing
  • Publishing Ethics
  • Why publish with De Gruyter
  • How to publish with De Gruyter
  • Our book series
  • Our subject areas
  • Your digital product at De Gruyter
  • Contribute to our reference works
  • Product information
  • Tools & resources
  • Product Information
  • Promotional Materials
  • Orders and Inquiries
  • FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
  • Repository Policy
  • Free access policy
  • Open Access agreements
  • Database portals
  • For Authors
  • Customer service
  • People + Culture
  • Journal Management
  • How to join us
  • Working at De Gruyter
  • Mission & Vision
  • De Gruyter Foundation
  • De Gruyter Ebound
  • Our Responsibility
  • Partner publishers

research methodology and historiography past paper

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

book: Research Methods for History

Research Methods for History

  • Lucy Faire and Simon Gunn

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
  • Copyright year: 2016
  • Audience: College/higher education;
  • Main content: 288
  • Other: 24 B/W illustrations
  • Keywords: History
  • Published: July 8, 2016
  • ISBN: 9781474408745

University of Cambridge

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

  • Undergraduate courses
  • Events and open days
  • Fees and finance
  • Postgraduate courses
  • How to apply
  • Postgraduate events
  • Fees and funding
  • International students
  • Continuing education
  • Executive and professional education
  • Courses in education
  • How the University and Colleges work
  • Term dates and calendars
  • Visiting the University
  • Annual reports
  • Equality and diversity
  • A global university
  • Public engagement
  • Give to Cambridge
  • For Cambridge students
  • For our researchers
  • Business and enterprise
  • Colleges & departments
  • Email & phone search
  • Museums & collections
  • Student information

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

  • About the Department overview
  • How to find the Department
  • Annual Report
  • Video and audio
  • HPS Discussion email list
  • Becoming a Visiting Scholar or Visiting Student overview
  • Visitor fee payment
  • Becoming an Affiliate
  • Applying for research grants and post-doctoral fellowships
  • Administration overview
  • Information for new staff
  • Information for examiners and assessors overview
  • Operation of the HPS plagiarism policy
  • Information for supervisors overview
  • Supervising Part IB and Part II students
  • Supervising MPhil and Part III students
  • Supervising PhD students
  • People overview
  • Teaching Officers
  • Research Fellows and Teaching Associates
  • Professional Services Staff
  • PhD Students
  • Research overview
  • Research projects overview
  • Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776–1848
  • In the Shadow of the Tree: The Diagrammatics of Relatedness as Scientific, Scholarly and Popular Practice
  • The Many Births of the Test-Tube Baby
  • Culture at the Macro-Scale: Boundaries, Barriers and Endogenous Change
  • Making Climate History overview
  • Project summary
  • Workstreams
  • Works cited and project literature
  • Research and teaching fellowships
  • Histories of Artificial Intelligence: A Genealogy of Power overview
  • From Collection to Cultivation: Historical Perspectives on Crop Diversity and Food Security overview
  • Call for papers
  • How Collections End: Objects, Meaning and Loss in Laboratories and Museums
  • Tools in Materials Research
  • Epsilon: A Collaborative Digital Framework for Nineteenth-Century Letters of Science
  • Contingency in the History and Philosophy of Science
  • Industrial Patronage and the Cold War University
  • FlyBase: Communicating Drosophila Genetics on Paper and Online, 1970–2000
  • The Lost Museums of Cambridge Science, 1865–1936
  • From Hansa to Lufthansa: Transportation Technologies and the Mobility of Knowledge in Germanic Lands and Beyond, 1300–2018
  • Medical Publishers, Obscenity Law and the Business of Sexual Knowledge in Victorian Britain
  • Kinds of Intelligence
  • Varieties of Social Knowledge
  • The Vesalius Census
  • Histories of Biodiversity and Agriculture
  • Investigating Fake Scientific Instruments in the Whipple Museum Collection
  • Before HIV: Homosex and Venereal Disease, c.1939–1984
  • The Casebooks Project
  • Generation to Reproduction
  • The Darwin Correspondence Project
  • History of Medicine overview
  • Events overview
  • Past events overview
  • Sixteenth Cambridge Wellcome Lecture in the History of Medicine
  • Eighteenth Cambridge Wellcome Lecture in the History of Medicine
  • Philosophy of Science overview
  • Study HPS overview
  • Undergraduate study overview
  • Introducing History and Philosophy of Science
  • What our students say
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Routes into History and Philosophy of Science
  • Part II overview
  • Distribution of Part II marks
  • BBS options
  • Postgraduate study overview
  • Why study HPS at Cambridge?
  • MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine overview
  • A typical day for an MPhil student
  • MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society
  • PhD in History and Philosophy of Science overview
  • Part-time PhD

PhD placement record

  • Funding for postgraduate students
  • Student information overview
  • Timetable overview
  • Primary source seminars
  • Research methods seminars
  • Writing support seminars
  • Dissertation seminars
  • BBS Part II overview
  • Early Medicine
  • Modern Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
  • Philosophy of Science and Medicine
  • Ethics of Medicine
  • Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine
  • Part III and MPhil
  • Single-paper options
  • Part IB students' guide overview
  • About the course
  • Supervisions
  • Libraries and readings
  • Scheme of examination
  • Part II students' guide overview
  • Primary sources
  • Dissertation
  • Key dates and deadlines
  • Advice overview
  • Examination advice
  • Learning strategies and exam skills
  • Advice from students
  • Part III students' guide overview
  • Essays and dissertation
  • Subject areas
  • MPhil students' guide overview
  • PhD students' guide overview
  • Welcome to new PhDs
  • Registration exercise and annual reviews
  • Your supervisor and advisor
  • Progress log
  • Intermission and working away from Cambridge
  • The PhD thesis
  • Submitting your thesis
  • Examination
  • News and events overview
  • Seminars and reading groups overview
  • Departmental Seminars
  • Coffee with Scientists
  • Cabinet of Natural History overview
  • Publications
  • History of Medicine Seminars
  • The Anthropocene
  • Calculating People
  • Measurement Reading Group
  • Teaching Global HPSTM
  • Pragmatism Reading Group
  • Integrating the History and Philosophy of Science
  • Foundations of Physics Reading Group
  • Atmospheric Humanities Reading Group
  • Values in Science Reading Group
  • HPS Workshop
  • Postgraduate Seminars overview
  • Language Groups overview
  • Latin Therapy overview
  • Bibliography of Latin language resources
  • Fun with Latin
  • Archive overview
  • Michaelmas Term 2023
  • Easter Term 2023
  • Lent Term 2023
  • Michaelmas Term 2022
  • Easter Term 2022
  • Lent Term 2022
  • Michaelmas Term 2021
  • Easter Term 2021
  • Lent Term 2021
  • Michaelmas Term 2020
  • Easter Term 2020
  • Lent Term 2020
  • Michaelmas Term 2019
  • Easter Term 2019
  • Lent Term 2019
  • Michaelmas Term 2018
  • Easter Term 2018
  • Lent Term 2018
  • Michaelmas Term 2017
  • Easter Term 2017
  • Lent Term 2017
  • Michaelmas Term 2016
  • Easter Term 2016
  • Lent Term 2016
  • Michaelmas Term 2015
  • Postgraduate and postdoc training overview
  • Induction sessions
  • Academic skills and career development
  • Print & Material Sources
  • Other events and resources

Tools and techniques for historical research

  • About the Department
  • News and events

Research guide

If you are just starting out in HPS, this will be the first time for many years – perhaps ever – that you have done substantial library or museum based research. The number of general studies may seem overwhelming, yet digging out specific material relevant to your topic may seem like finding needles in a haystack. Before turning to the specific entries that make up this guide, there are a few general points that apply more widely.

Planning your research

Because good research and good writing go hand in hand, probably the single most important key to successful research is having a good topic. For that, all you need at the beginning are two things: (a) a problem that you are genuinely interested in and (b) a specific issue, controversy, technique, instrument, person, etc. that is likely to offer a fruitful way forward for exploring your problem. In the early stages, it's often a good idea to be general about (a) and very specific about (b). So you might be interested in why people decide to become doctors, and decide to look at the early career of a single practitioner from the early nineteenth century, when the evidence for this kind of question happens to be unusually good. You can get lots of advice from people in the Department about places to look for topics, especially if you combine this with reading in areas of potential interest. Remember that you're more likely to get good advice if you're able to mesh your interests with something that a potential supervisor knows about. HPS is such a broad field that it's impossible for any department to cover all aspects of it with an equal degree of expertise. It can be reassuring to know that your topic will evolve as your research develops, although it is vital that you establish some basic parameters relatively quickly. Otherwise you will end up doing the research for two, three or even four research papers or dissertations, when all you need is the material for one.

Before beginning detailed work, it's obviously a good idea to read some of the secondary literature surrounding your subject. The more general books are listed on the reading lists for the Part II lecture courses, and some of the specialist literature is listed in these research guides. This doesn't need to involve an exhaustive search, at least not at this stage, but you do need to master the fundamentals of what's been done if you're going to be in a position to judge the relevance of anything you find. If there are lectures being offered in your topic, make sure to attend them; and if they are offered later in the year, try to see if you can obtain a preliminary bibliography from the lecturer.

After that, it's usually a good idea to immerse yourself in your main primary sources as soon as possible. If you are studying a museum object, this is the time to look at it closely; if you're writing about a debate, get together the main papers relevant to it and give them a close read; if you're writing about a specific experiment, look at the published papers, the laboratory notebook, and the relevant letters. Don't spend hours in the early stages of research ferreting out hard-to-find details, unless you're absolutely positive that they are of central importance to the viability of your topic. Start to get a feel for the material you have, and the questions that might be explored further. Make an outline of the main topics that you hope to cover, organized along what you see as the most interesting themes (and remember, 'background' is not usually an interesting theme on its own).

At this stage, research can go in many different directions. At some point, you'll want to read more about the techniques other historians have used for exploring similar questions. Most fields have an established repertoire of ways of approaching problems, and you need to know what these are, especially if you decide to reject them. One of the advantages of an interdisciplinary field like HPS is that you are exposed to different and often conflicting ways of tackling similar questions. Remember that this is true within history itself, and you need to be aware of alternatives. This may well involve looking further afield, at classic books or articles that are not specifically on 'your' subject. For example, it may be that you could find some helpful ideas for a study of modern scientific portraiture in a book on the eighteenth century. The best books dealing with educational maps may not be on the astronomical ones you are studying, but on ones used for teaching classical geography. See where the inspiration for works you admire comes from, and have a look at the sources they have used. This will help you develop the kind of focussed questions that make for a successful piece of work.

As you develop an outline and begin to think through your topic in more detail, you'll be in good position to plan possible lines of research. Don't try to find out everything about your topic: pick those aspects that are likely to prove most fruitful for the direction your essay seems to be heading. For example, it may be worth spending a long time searching for biographical details about a person if their career and life are central to your analysis; but in many other cases, such issues may not be very important. If your interest is in the reception of a work, it is likely to be more fruitful to learn a lot about a few commentaries or reviews (where they appeared, who wrote them, and so forth) than to gather in randomly all the comments you can find.

Follow up hints in other people's footnotes. Works that are otherwise dull or outdated in approach are sometimes based on very solid research. One secondary reference to a crucial letter or newspaper article can save you hours of mindless trawling, and lead you straight to the information you need. Moreover, good historians often signal questions or sources that they think would be worth investigating further.

Remember that the best history almost always depends on developing new approaches and interpretations, not on knowing about a secret archive no one has used before. If you give your work time to develop, and combine research with writing, you will discover new sources, and (better still) a fresh importance for material that has supposedly been known for a long time. As you become familiar with your topic, you are likely to find that evidence you dug out at the beginning of your project is much more significant than you thought it was. In historical research, the most important evidence often isn't sitting there on the surface – it's something you need to dig out through close reading and an understanding of the situation in which the document you are studying was written, or in which the object was produced. This is especially true of instruments, paintings and other non-textual sources.

Some standard reference works

Your research should become more focussed as time goes on. Don't just gather randomly: you should always have at least some idea of why you are looking for something, and what you might hope to find. Make guesses, follow up hunches, see if an idea you have has the possibility to work out. At the beginning, it can be valuable to learn the full range of what is available, but eventually you should be following up specific issues, a bit like a detective tracing the clues to a mystery. It is at this stage of research, which is often best done in conjunction with writing up sections of your project, that knowing where to find answers to specific questions is most useful. There is nothing more disheartening than spending a week to find a crucial fact, only to discover that it's been sitting on the shelf next to you all term. The Whipple has a wide variety of guides, biographical dictionaries and bibliographies, so spend a few minutes early on looking at the reference shelves.

Every major country has a national biographical dictionary (the new version of the British one is the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , available 2004 online). For better-known scientists, a good place to start is Charles C. Gillispie (ed.) Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970–1980). There are more specialized dictionaries for every scientific field, from entomology to astronomy. The University Library has a huge selection of biographical sources; ask your supervisor about the best ones for your purpose.

Preliminary searching for book titles and other bibliographical information is now often best done online, and every historian should know how to use the British Library's online search facility; COPAC (the UK national library database); and WorldCat (an international database). All of these are accessible through the HPS Whipple Library website (under 'other catalogues'). At the time of writing, the University Library is remains one of the few libraries of its size to have many of its records not available online, so remember that you have to check the green guard-book catalogues (and the supplementary catalogues) for most items published before 1977. It is hoped that this situation will be rectified soon. There are also numerous bibliographies for individual sciences and subjects, together with catalogues of relevant manuscripts. Most of these are listed elsewhere in this guide.

As questions arise, you will want to be able to access books and articles by other historians that touch upon your subject. There are many sources for this listed elsewhere in this guide, but you should definitely know about the Isis Current Bibliography and The Wellcome Bibliography for the History of Medicine . Both are available online, the former through the RLG History of Science, Technology and Medicine database, the latter through the website of the Wellcome Library.

Libraries and museums

Finally, a word in praise of libraries and museums. As the comments above make clear, the internet is invaluable for searching for specific pieces of information. If you need a bibliographical reference or a general reading list from a course at another university, it is an excellent place to begin. If you are looking for the source of an unidentified quotation, typing it into Google (or an appropriate database held by the University Library) will often turn up the source in seconds. Many academic journals are now online, as are the texts of many books, though not always in a paginated or citable form.

For almost all historical topics, however, libraries filled with printed books and journals will remain the principal tools for research, just as museums will continue to be essential to any work dealing with the material culture of past science. The reason for this is simple: what is on the internet is the result of decisions by people in the past decade, while libraries and museums are the product of a continuous history of collecting over several thousand years. Cambridge has some of the best collections for the history of science anywhere. Despite what is often said, this is not because of the famous manuscripts or showpiece books (these are mostly available in other ways), but because of the depth and range of its collections across the whole field. The Whipple Library is small and friendly, and has an unparalleled selection of secondary works selected over many years – don't just go for specific titles you've found in the catalogue, try browsing around, and ask the librarians for help if you can't see what you are looking for. Explore the Whipple Museum and talk to the curator and the staff. There are rich troves of material in these departmental collections, on topics ranging from phrenology and microscopy to the early development of pocket calculators. Become familiar with what the University Library has to offer: it is large and sometimes idiosyncratic, but worth getting to know well if you are at all serious about research. It is a fantastic instrument for studying the human past – the historian's equivalent of CERN or the Hubble Telescope. And all you need to get in is a student ID.

Further reading

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. William, The Craft of Research , 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2003).

Email search

Privacy and cookie policies

Study History and Philosophy of Science

Undergraduate study

Postgraduate study

Library and Museum

Whipple Library

Whipple Museum

Museum Collections Portal

Research projects

History of Medicine

Philosophy of Science

© 2024 University of Cambridge

  • Contact the University
  • Accessibility
  • Freedom of information
  • Privacy policy and cookies
  • Statement on Modern Slavery
  • Terms and conditions
  • University A-Z
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • Research news
  • About research at Cambridge
  • Spotlight on...

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base
  • Dissertation
  • What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips

What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips

Published on August 25, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.

Your research methodology discusses and explains the data collection and analysis methods you used in your research. A key part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper , the methodology chapter explains what you did and how you did it, allowing readers to evaluate the reliability and validity of your research and your dissertation topic .

It should include:

  • The type of research you conducted
  • How you collected and analyzed your data
  • Any tools or materials you used in the research
  • How you mitigated or avoided research biases
  • Why you chose these methods
  • Your methodology section should generally be written in the past tense .
  • Academic style guides in your field may provide detailed guidelines on what to include for different types of studies.
  • Your citation style might provide guidelines for your methodology section (e.g., an APA Style methods section ).

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

How to write a research methodology, why is a methods section important, step 1: explain your methodological approach, step 2: describe your data collection methods, step 3: describe your analysis method, step 4: evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made, tips for writing a strong methodology chapter, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about methodology.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

  • Academic style
  • Vague sentences
  • Style consistency

See an example

research methodology and historiography past paper

Your methods section is your opportunity to share how you conducted your research and why you chose the methods you chose. It’s also the place to show that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated .

It gives your research legitimacy and situates it within your field, and also gives your readers a place to refer to if they have any questions or critiques in other sections.

You can start by introducing your overall approach to your research. You have two options here.

Option 1: Start with your “what”

What research problem or question did you investigate?

  • Aim to describe the characteristics of something?
  • Explore an under-researched topic?
  • Establish a causal relationship?

And what type of data did you need to achieve this aim?

  • Quantitative data , qualitative data , or a mix of both?
  • Primary data collected yourself, or secondary data collected by someone else?
  • Experimental data gathered by controlling and manipulating variables, or descriptive data gathered via observations?

Option 2: Start with your “why”

Depending on your discipline, you can also start with a discussion of the rationale and assumptions underpinning your methodology. In other words, why did you choose these methods for your study?

  • Why is this the best way to answer your research question?
  • Is this a standard methodology in your field, or does it require justification?
  • Were there any ethical considerations involved in your choices?
  • What are the criteria for validity and reliability in this type of research ? How did you prevent bias from affecting your data?

Once you have introduced your reader to your methodological approach, you should share full details about your data collection methods .

Quantitative methods

In order to be considered generalizable, you should describe quantitative research methods in enough detail for another researcher to replicate your study.

Here, explain how you operationalized your concepts and measured your variables. Discuss your sampling method or inclusion and exclusion criteria , as well as any tools, procedures, and materials you used to gather your data.

Surveys Describe where, when, and how the survey was conducted.

  • How did you design the questionnaire?
  • What form did your questions take (e.g., multiple choice, Likert scale )?
  • Were your surveys conducted in-person or virtually?
  • What sampling method did you use to select participants?
  • What was your sample size and response rate?

Experiments Share full details of the tools, techniques, and procedures you used to conduct your experiment.

  • How did you design the experiment ?
  • How did you recruit participants?
  • How did you manipulate and measure the variables ?
  • What tools did you use?

Existing data Explain how you gathered and selected the material (such as datasets or archival data) that you used in your analysis.

  • Where did you source the material?
  • How was the data originally produced?
  • What criteria did you use to select material (e.g., date range)?

The survey consisted of 5 multiple-choice questions and 10 questions measured on a 7-point Likert scale.

The goal was to collect survey responses from 350 customers visiting the fitness apparel company’s brick-and-mortar location in Boston on July 4–8, 2022, between 11:00 and 15:00.

Here, a customer was defined as a person who had purchased a product from the company on the day they took the survey. Participants were given 5 minutes to fill in the survey anonymously. In total, 408 customers responded, but not all surveys were fully completed. Due to this, 371 survey results were included in the analysis.

  • Information bias
  • Omitted variable bias
  • Regression to the mean
  • Survivorship bias
  • Undercoverage bias
  • Sampling bias

Qualitative methods

In qualitative research , methods are often more flexible and subjective. For this reason, it’s crucial to robustly explain the methodology choices you made.

Be sure to discuss the criteria you used to select your data, the context in which your research was conducted, and the role you played in collecting your data (e.g., were you an active participant, or a passive observer?)

Interviews or focus groups Describe where, when, and how the interviews were conducted.

  • How did you find and select participants?
  • How many participants took part?
  • What form did the interviews take ( structured , semi-structured , or unstructured )?
  • How long were the interviews?
  • How were they recorded?

Participant observation Describe where, when, and how you conducted the observation or ethnography .

  • What group or community did you observe? How long did you spend there?
  • How did you gain access to this group? What role did you play in the community?
  • How long did you spend conducting the research? Where was it located?
  • How did you record your data (e.g., audiovisual recordings, note-taking)?

Existing data Explain how you selected case study materials for your analysis.

  • What type of materials did you analyze?
  • How did you select them?

In order to gain better insight into possibilities for future improvement of the fitness store’s product range, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 returning customers.

Here, a returning customer was defined as someone who usually bought products at least twice a week from the store.

Surveys were used to select participants. Interviews were conducted in a small office next to the cash register and lasted approximately 20 minutes each. Answers were recorded by note-taking, and seven interviews were also filmed with consent. One interviewee preferred not to be filmed.

  • The Hawthorne effect
  • Observer bias
  • The placebo effect
  • Response bias and Nonresponse bias
  • The Pygmalion effect
  • Recall bias
  • Social desirability bias
  • Self-selection bias

Mixed methods

Mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. If a standalone quantitative or qualitative study is insufficient to answer your research question, mixed methods may be a good fit for you.

Mixed methods are less common than standalone analyses, largely because they require a great deal of effort to pull off successfully. If you choose to pursue mixed methods, it’s especially important to robustly justify your methods.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Next, you should indicate how you processed and analyzed your data. Avoid going into too much detail: you should not start introducing or discussing any of your results at this stage.

In quantitative research , your analysis will be based on numbers. In your methods section, you can include:

  • How you prepared the data before analyzing it (e.g., checking for missing data , removing outliers , transforming variables)
  • Which software you used (e.g., SPSS, Stata or R)
  • Which statistical tests you used (e.g., two-tailed t test , simple linear regression )

In qualitative research, your analysis will be based on language, images, and observations (often involving some form of textual analysis ).

Specific methods might include:

  • Content analysis : Categorizing and discussing the meaning of words, phrases and sentences
  • Thematic analysis : Coding and closely examining the data to identify broad themes and patterns
  • Discourse analysis : Studying communication and meaning in relation to their social context

Mixed methods combine the above two research methods, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches into one coherent analytical process.

Above all, your methodology section should clearly make the case for why you chose the methods you did. This is especially true if you did not take the most standard approach to your topic. In this case, discuss why other methods were not suitable for your objectives, and show how this approach contributes new knowledge or understanding.

In any case, it should be overwhelmingly clear to your reader that you set yourself up for success in terms of your methodology’s design. Show how your methods should lead to results that are valid and reliable, while leaving the analysis of the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results for your discussion section .

  • Quantitative: Lab-based experiments cannot always accurately simulate real-life situations and behaviors, but they are effective for testing causal relationships between variables .
  • Qualitative: Unstructured interviews usually produce results that cannot be generalized beyond the sample group , but they provide a more in-depth understanding of participants’ perceptions, motivations, and emotions.
  • Mixed methods: Despite issues systematically comparing differing types of data, a solely quantitative study would not sufficiently incorporate the lived experience of each participant, while a solely qualitative study would be insufficiently generalizable.

Remember that your aim is not just to describe your methods, but to show how and why you applied them. Again, it’s critical to demonstrate that your research was rigorously conducted and can be replicated.

1. Focus on your objectives and research questions

The methodology section should clearly show why your methods suit your objectives and convince the reader that you chose the best possible approach to answering your problem statement and research questions .

2. Cite relevant sources

Your methodology can be strengthened by referencing existing research in your field. This can help you to:

  • Show that you followed established practice for your type of research
  • Discuss how you decided on your approach by evaluating existing research
  • Present a novel methodological approach to address a gap in the literature

3. Write for your audience

Consider how much information you need to give, and avoid getting too lengthy. If you are using methods that are standard for your discipline, you probably don’t need to give a lot of background or justification.

Regardless, your methodology should be a clear, well-structured text that makes an argument for your approach, not just a list of technical details and procedures.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Normal distribution
  • Measures of central tendency
  • Chi square tests
  • Confidence interval
  • Quartiles & Quantiles

Methodology

  • Cluster sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Thematic analysis
  • Cohort study
  • Peer review
  • Ethnography

Research bias

  • Implicit bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Conformity bias
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Availability heuristic
  • Attrition bias

Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).

In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .

Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:

  • Reliability refers to the  consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions).
  • Validity   refers to the  accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure).

If you are doing experimental research, you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment.

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 20). What Is a Research Methodology? | Steps & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved February 17, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/methodology/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, what is a theoretical framework | guide to organizing, what is a research design | types, guide & examples, qualitative vs. quantitative research | differences, examples & methods, what is your plagiarism score.

  • Privacy Policy
  • SignUp/Login

Research Method

Home » Historical Research – Types, Methods and Examples

Historical Research – Types, Methods and Examples

Table of Contents

Historical Research

Historical Research

Definition:

Historical research is the process of investigating and studying past events, people, and societies using a variety of sources and methods. This type of research aims to reconstruct and interpret the past based on the available evidence.

Types of Historical Research

There are several types of historical research, including:

Descriptive Research

This type of historical research focuses on describing events, people, or cultures in detail. It can involve examining artifacts, documents, or other sources of information to create a detailed account of what happened or existed.

Analytical Research

This type of historical research aims to explain why events, people, or cultures occurred in a certain way. It involves analyzing data to identify patterns, causes, and effects, and making interpretations based on this analysis.

Comparative Research

This type of historical research involves comparing two or more events, people, or cultures to identify similarities and differences. This can help researchers understand the unique characteristics of each and how they interacted with each other.

Interpretive Research

This type of historical research focuses on interpreting the meaning of past events, people, or cultures. It can involve analyzing cultural symbols, beliefs, and practices to understand their significance in a particular historical context.

Quantitative Research

This type of historical research involves using statistical methods to analyze historical data. It can involve examining demographic information, economic indicators, or other quantitative data to identify patterns and trends.

Qualitative Research

This type of historical research involves examining non-numerical data such as personal accounts, letters, or diaries. It can provide insights into the experiences and perspectives of individuals during a particular historical period.

Data Collection Methods

Data Collection Methods are as follows:

  • Archival research : This involves analyzing documents and records that have been preserved over time, such as government records, diaries, letters, newspapers, and photographs. Archival research is often conducted in libraries, archives, and museums.
  • Oral history : This involves conducting interviews with individuals who have lived through a particular historical period or event. Oral history can provide a unique perspective on past events and can help to fill gaps in the historical record.
  • Artifact analysis: This involves examining physical objects from the past, such as tools, clothing, and artwork, to gain insights into past cultures and practices.
  • Secondary sources: This involves analyzing published works, such as books, articles, and academic papers, that discuss past events and cultures. Secondary sources can provide context and insights into the historical period being studied.
  • Statistical analysis : This involves analyzing numerical data from the past, such as census records or economic data, to identify patterns and trends.
  • Fieldwork : This involves conducting on-site research in a particular location, such as visiting a historical site or conducting ethnographic research in a particular community. Fieldwork can provide a firsthand understanding of the culture and environment being studied.
  • Content analysis: This involves analyzing the content of media from the past, such as films, television programs, and advertisements, to gain insights into cultural attitudes and beliefs.

Data Analysis Methods

  • Content analysis : This involves analyzing the content of written or visual material, such as books, newspapers, or photographs, to identify patterns and themes. Content analysis can be used to identify changes in cultural values and beliefs over time.
  • Textual analysis : This involves analyzing written texts, such as letters or diaries, to understand the experiences and perspectives of individuals during a particular historical period. Textual analysis can provide insights into how people lived and thought in the past.
  • Discourse analysis : This involves analyzing how language is used to construct meaning and power relations in a particular historical period. Discourse analysis can help to identify how social and political ideologies were constructed and maintained over time.
  • Statistical analysis: This involves using statistical methods to analyze numerical data, such as census records or economic data, to identify patterns and trends. Statistical analysis can help to identify changes in population demographics, economic conditions, and other factors over time.
  • Comparative analysis : This involves comparing data from two or more historical periods or events to identify similarities and differences. Comparative analysis can help to identify patterns and trends that may not be apparent from analyzing data from a single historical period.
  • Qualitative analysis: This involves analyzing non-numerical data, such as oral history interviews or ethnographic field notes, to identify themes and patterns. Qualitative analysis can provide a rich understanding of the experiences and perspectives of individuals in the past.

Historical Research Methodology

Here are the general steps involved in historical research methodology:

  • Define the research question: Start by identifying a research question that you want to answer through your historical research. This question should be focused, specific, and relevant to your research goals.
  • Review the literature: Conduct a review of the existing literature on the topic of your research question. This can involve reading books, articles, and academic papers to gain a thorough understanding of the existing research.
  • Develop a research design : Develop a research design that outlines the methods you will use to collect and analyze data. This design should be based on the research question and should be feasible given the resources and time available.
  • Collect data: Use the methods outlined in your research design to collect data on past events, people, and cultures. This can involve archival research, oral history interviews, artifact analysis, and other data collection methods.
  • Analyze data : Analyze the data you have collected using the methods outlined in your research design. This can involve content analysis, textual analysis, statistical analysis, and other data analysis methods.
  • Interpret findings : Use the results of your data analysis to draw meaningful insights and conclusions related to your research question. These insights should be grounded in the data and should be relevant to the research goals.
  • Communicate results: Communicate your findings through a research report, academic paper, or other means. This should be done in a clear, concise, and well-organized manner, with appropriate citations and references to the literature.

Applications of Historical Research

Historical research has a wide range of applications in various fields, including:

  • Education : Historical research can be used to develop curriculum materials that reflect a more accurate and inclusive representation of history. It can also be used to provide students with a deeper understanding of past events and cultures.
  • Museums : Historical research is used to develop exhibits, programs, and other materials for museums. It can provide a more accurate and engaging presentation of historical events and artifacts.
  • Public policy : Historical research is used to inform public policy decisions by providing insights into the historical context of current issues. It can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of past policies and programs.
  • Business : Historical research can be used by businesses to understand the evolution of their industry and to identify trends that may affect their future success. It can also be used to develop marketing strategies that resonate with customers’ historical interests and values.
  • Law : Historical research is used in legal proceedings to provide evidence and context for cases involving historical events or practices. It can also be used to inform the development of new laws and policies.
  • Genealogy : Historical research can be used by individuals to trace their family history and to understand their ancestral roots.
  • Cultural preservation : Historical research is used to preserve cultural heritage by documenting and interpreting past events, practices, and traditions. It can also be used to identify and preserve historical landmarks and artifacts.

Examples of Historical Research

Examples of Historical Research are as follows:

  • Examining the history of race relations in the United States: Historical research could be used to explore the historical roots of racial inequality and injustice in the United States. This could help inform current efforts to address systemic racism and promote social justice.
  • Tracing the evolution of political ideologies: Historical research could be used to study the development of political ideologies over time. This could help to contextualize current political debates and provide insights into the origins and evolution of political beliefs and values.
  • Analyzing the impact of technology on society : Historical research could be used to explore the impact of technology on society over time. This could include examining the impact of previous technological revolutions (such as the industrial revolution) on society, as well as studying the current impact of emerging technologies on society and the environment.
  • Documenting the history of marginalized communities : Historical research could be used to document the history of marginalized communities (such as LGBTQ+ communities or indigenous communities). This could help to preserve cultural heritage, promote social justice, and promote a more inclusive understanding of history.

Purpose of Historical Research

The purpose of historical research is to study the past in order to gain a better understanding of the present and to inform future decision-making. Some specific purposes of historical research include:

  • To understand the origins of current events, practices, and institutions : Historical research can be used to explore the historical roots of current events, practices, and institutions. By understanding how things developed over time, we can gain a better understanding of the present.
  • To develop a more accurate and inclusive understanding of history : Historical research can be used to correct inaccuracies and biases in historical narratives. By exploring different perspectives and sources of information, we can develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of history.
  • To inform decision-making: Historical research can be used to inform decision-making in various fields, including education, public policy, business, and law. By understanding the historical context of current issues, we can make more informed decisions about how to address them.
  • To preserve cultural heritage : Historical research can be used to document and preserve cultural heritage, including traditions, practices, and artifacts. By understanding the historical significance of these cultural elements, we can work to preserve them for future generations.
  • To stimulate curiosity and critical thinking: Historical research can be used to stimulate curiosity and critical thinking about the past. By exploring different historical perspectives and interpretations, we can develop a more critical and reflective approach to understanding history and its relevance to the present.

When to use Historical Research

Historical research can be useful in a variety of contexts. Here are some examples of when historical research might be particularly appropriate:

  • When examining the historical roots of current events: Historical research can be used to explore the historical roots of current events, practices, and institutions. By understanding how things developed over time, we can gain a better understanding of the present.
  • When examining the historical context of a particular topic : Historical research can be used to explore the historical context of a particular topic, such as a social issue, political debate, or scientific development. By understanding the historical context, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of the topic and its significance.
  • When exploring the evolution of a particular field or discipline : Historical research can be used to explore the evolution of a particular field or discipline, such as medicine, law, or art. By understanding the historical development of the field, we can gain a better understanding of its current state and future directions.
  • When examining the impact of past events on current society : Historical research can be used to examine the impact of past events (such as wars, revolutions, or social movements) on current society. By understanding the historical context and impact of these events, we can gain insights into current social and political issues.
  • When studying the cultural heritage of a particular community or group : Historical research can be used to document and preserve the cultural heritage of a particular community or group. By understanding the historical significance of cultural practices, traditions, and artifacts, we can work to preserve them for future generations.

Characteristics of Historical Research

The following are some characteristics of historical research:

  • Focus on the past : Historical research focuses on events, people, and phenomena of the past. It seeks to understand how things developed over time and how they relate to current events.
  • Reliance on primary sources: Historical research relies on primary sources such as letters, diaries, newspapers, government documents, and other artifacts from the period being studied. These sources provide firsthand accounts of events and can help researchers gain a more accurate understanding of the past.
  • Interpretation of data : Historical research involves interpretation of data from primary sources. Researchers analyze and interpret data to draw conclusions about the past.
  • Use of multiple sources: Historical research often involves using multiple sources of data to gain a more complete understanding of the past. By examining a range of sources, researchers can cross-reference information and validate their findings.
  • Importance of context: Historical research emphasizes the importance of context. Researchers analyze the historical context in which events occurred and consider how that context influenced people’s actions and decisions.
  • Subjectivity : Historical research is inherently subjective, as researchers interpret data and draw conclusions based on their own perspectives and biases. Researchers must be aware of their own biases and strive for objectivity in their analysis.
  • Importance of historical significance: Historical research emphasizes the importance of historical significance. Researchers consider the historical significance of events, people, and phenomena and their impact on the present and future.
  • Use of qualitative methods : Historical research often uses qualitative methods such as content analysis, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis to analyze data and draw conclusions about the past.

Advantages of Historical Research

There are several advantages to historical research:

  • Provides a deeper understanding of the past : Historical research can provide a more comprehensive understanding of past events and how they have shaped current social, political, and economic conditions. This can help individuals and organizations make informed decisions about the future.
  • Helps preserve cultural heritage: Historical research can be used to document and preserve cultural heritage. By studying the history of a particular culture, researchers can gain insights into the cultural practices and beliefs that have shaped that culture over time.
  • Provides insights into long-term trends : Historical research can provide insights into long-term trends and patterns. By studying historical data over time, researchers can identify patterns and trends that may be difficult to discern from short-term data.
  • Facilitates the development of hypotheses: Historical research can facilitate the development of hypotheses about how past events have influenced current conditions. These hypotheses can be tested using other research methods, such as experiments or surveys.
  • Helps identify root causes of social problems : Historical research can help identify the root causes of social problems. By studying the historical context in which these problems developed, researchers can gain a better understanding of how they emerged and what factors may have contributed to their development.
  • Provides a source of inspiration: Historical research can provide a source of inspiration for individuals and organizations seeking to address current social, political, and economic challenges. By studying the accomplishments and struggles of past generations, researchers can gain insights into how to address current challenges.

Limitations of Historical Research

Some Limitations of Historical Research are as follows:

  • Reliance on incomplete or biased data: Historical research is often limited by the availability and quality of data. Many primary sources have been lost, destroyed, or are inaccessible, making it difficult to get a complete picture of historical events. Additionally, some primary sources may be biased or represent only one perspective on an event.
  • Difficulty in generalizing findings: Historical research is often specific to a particular time and place and may not be easily generalized to other contexts. This makes it difficult to draw broad conclusions about human behavior or social phenomena.
  • Lack of control over variables : Historical research often lacks control over variables. Researchers cannot manipulate or control historical events, making it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
  • Subjectivity of interpretation : Historical research is often subjective because researchers must interpret data and draw conclusions based on their own biases and perspectives. Different researchers may interpret the same data differently, leading to different conclusions.
  • Limited ability to test hypotheses: Historical research is often limited in its ability to test hypotheses. Because the events being studied have already occurred, researchers cannot manipulate variables or conduct experiments to test their hypotheses.
  • Lack of objectivity: Historical research is often subjective, and researchers must be aware of their own biases and strive for objectivity in their analysis. However, it can be difficult to maintain objectivity when studying events that are emotionally charged or controversial.
  • Limited generalizability: Historical research is often limited in its generalizability, as the events and conditions being studied may be specific to a particular time and place. This makes it difficult to draw broad conclusions that apply to other contexts or time periods.

About the author

' src=

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

You may also like

Humanities Research

Humanities Research – Types, Methods and Examples

Scientific Research

Scientific Research – Types, Purpose and Guide

Documentary Research

Documentary Research – Types, Methods and...

Original Research

Original Research – Definition, Examples, Guide

Artistic Research

Artistic Research – Methods, Types and Examples

University of Johannesburg

Research Methodology (Paper 2)

  • Second semester

Course code(s)

Usage metrics.

Faculty of Health Sciences Exam Papers

  • Other education not elsewhere classified

CC BY 4.0

Education Hub

Research Methodology Paper 1 MA History Part 1 UOS Past Papers

Paper 01 MA History-1 UOS 1-A-2021

Research Methodology MA History-1 Sargodha University 1st A-2021

Paper 1 MA History UOS 1-A-2020

Research Methodology MA History part 1 Sargodha University 1st A-2020

Research methodology ma history part 1 sargodha university 2nd a-2018, other subjects past papers, early history of islam paper 2 ma history part 1 uos past papers, state and society in muslim india ma history part 1 uos past papers, muslim freedom movement in south asia ma history-1 uos past papers, history of pakistan paper 5 ma history part 1 uos past paper.

Notes Hub App

School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Visual media symposium 2024, state of visual evidence symposium.

We invite experts in the field of visual communication to discuss the current challenges and opportunities that synthetic media pose for the contemporary media environment, and how we can utilize visuals as data to answer social scientific questions.

Date: Monday, April 8, 3-6:30 p.m. (central time USA)

Conference Mode: Zoom  

Opening Remarks: 3-3:15 p.m.

Melissa Tully, Sang Jung Kim, Alex Scott and Bingbing Zhang

Keynote 1: 3:15-4:15 p.m.

Speaker: Bryce Dietrich  

Moderator: Sang Jung Kim

Topic: Video-as-data; Seeing Racial Avoidance on Virtual Streets

Speaker Bio: Dietrich is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University. He is also a Research Scholar at the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship & Engagement. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Social Science Informatics at the University of Iowa and a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School and Northeastern University.

Dietrich's research uses novel quantitative, automated, and machine learning methods to analyze non-traditional data sources such as audio (or speech) data and video data. He uses these to understand the causes and consequences of non-verbal political behavior, such as vocal inflections and walking trajectories, especially in relation to descriptive representation and implicit gender/racial bias. Underlying this research is a love for high-performance computing and a genuine desire to make "big data" more accessible, while his substantive interests are firmly grounded in American political behavior at both the mass- and elite-level.

Keynote 2: 4:15-5:15 p.m

Speaker: Cindy Shen  

Moderator: Bingbing Zhang

Topic: Perception, mechanism, and intervention of visual misinformation 

Speaker Bio: Cuihua (Cindy) Shen is a professor of communication at UC Davis and the co-director of the Computational Communication Research lab. Her recent research focuses on computational social science and multimodal (mis)information in AI-mediated environments. She is the past chair of the Computational Methods Division of the International Communication Association, and the founding associate editor of the journal Computational Communication Research , as well as the associate editor of Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication . Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and Facebook. She is a recipient of numerous top paper awards from ICA as well as a Fulbright US Scholar Award. 

Keynote 3: 5:15-6:15 p.m.

Q & A with  T. J. Thomson  

Moderator: Alex Scott

Topic: Impact of AI generated images & visual misinformation 

Speaker Bio:   A majority of Thomson's research centers on the visual aspects of news and journalism and on the concerns and processes relevant to those who make, edit, and present visual news. He has broader interests in digital media, journalism studies, and visual culture and often focuses on under-represented identities, attributes, and environments in his research. Thomson is committed to not only studying visual communication phenomena but also working to increase the visibility, innovation, and quality of how research findings are presented, accessed, and understood.

Thomson has obtained more than $1.32 million in external research funding from a number of organizations, including the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Australian Research Council, the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and the International Visual Literacy Association. He has also been awarded research fellowships in China and Germany.

Closing Remarks: 6:15-6:30 p.m.

Sang Jung Kim, Alex Scott and Bingbing Zhang

Symposium Co-Sponsors

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Visual Media Lab would like to thank the symposium co-sponsors for their support of this event:

  • College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Department of Communication Studies
  • Department of Cinematic Arts
  • SPARTA Lab - Department of Computer Science
  • Department of Political Science
  • Public Policy Center

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

  • Apply Online
  • Admission Schedule
  • Scholarships
  • Past Papers
  • Date Sheets
  • Roll No Slip
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Form
  • Sign in / Join

research methodology and historiography past paper

Admissions: MA/MSc (CLICK HERE)

Latest government jobs (click here).

  • UOS Past Papers
  • MA / M.Sc Past Papers UOS
  • MA History UOS Past Papers

Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History Sargodha University Past Papers 2017

Sergoda university ma history paper-i research methodology and historiography past papers 2017.

Here you can download Past Papers of Paper-I Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History, Part One, 1st & 2nd Annual Examination, 2017 University of Sergoda.

Research Methodology and Historiography UOS Past Papers 2017

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Western political thought, ma political science sargodha university past papers 2020, date sheet of ma/msc/m.com part one/two/composite, 2nd annual exam 2022 sargodha university.

research methodology and historiography past paper

IMAGES

  1. MA Part 1 History Research Methodology And Historiography Past Paper

    research methodology and historiography past paper

  2. The Historical Research: Theory, Methodology and Historiography

    research methodology and historiography past paper

  3. OSPU MHI historiography Dec 2019 Question Paper

    research methodology and historiography past paper

  4. MA Part 1 History Research Methodology And Historiography Past Paper

    research methodology and historiography past paper

  5. (PDF) Capturing the historical research methodology: an experimental

    research methodology and historiography past paper

  6. Research paper architectural historiography in the 20 th cen

    research methodology and historiography past paper

VIDEO

  1. How To Read Research Papers For Literature Review #shorts

  2. Research Methods: Writing a Literature Review

  3. Research Methodology

  4. Understanding methodology

  5. Research Methodology Discussion Review & Critical Literature Review

  6. IGNOU history question paper ma history historiography #pyq #ignou

COMMENTS

  1. Research Methodology and Historiography, MA Pakistan Studies Sargodha

    Here you can download Past Papers of Paper-II Research Methodology and Historiography, MA Pakistan Studies, Part One, 1st & 2nd Annual Examination, 2016 University of Sargodha Research Methodology and Historiography UOS Past Papers 2016

  2. Research Methodology & Historiography MA Pak. Studies UOS Past Papers

    January 31, 2020 by Muhammad Shahid Azeem Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 1-A2020 Download Paper Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 1-A2021 Download Paper Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 2-A2018 Download Paper Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 1-A2019 Download Paper

  3. Sargodha University MA Pakistan Studies Past Paper of Research

    The Sargodha University M.A Pakistan Studies Paper II subject Research Methodology and Historiography Pakistan Studies past examination paper of 2013 . Old examination papers MA Pakistan Studies of UOS Sargodha for Subject Research Methodology and Historiography Paper II of Part 1 Annual examination 2013.

  4. Methodology of historiography

    Methodology of historiography This concluding section surveys contemporary historical practice and theory. As the previous section has demonstrated, there are many branches of history today, each with different kinds of evidence, particular canons of interpretation, and distinctive conventions of writing.

  5. Start Here

    In a research paper, the writer asks questions about the past, analyzes primary sources, and presents an argument about historical events, people, or societies. In a historiography paper, the author critiques, evaluates, and summarizes how historians have approached, discussed, and debated certain topics over time.

  6. Past Papers 2014 Sargodha University MA History Part 1 Research

    Past Papers 2014 Sargodha University MA History Part 1 Research Methodology and Historiography | PDF Past Papers 2014 Sargodha University MA History Part 1 Research Methodology and Historiography - Read online for free.

  7. Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 1-A2019

    Research Methodology MA Pak Studies UOS Past Paper 2-A2018. Download Paper. Notes Hub App. Paper 2 MA Pakistan Studies 1-A-2019. Research Methodology MA Pak. Studies UOS Past Paper 1-A-2019. Research methodology and Historiography.

  8. Sargodha University M.A History Past Examination Papers

    Paper 1 Research Methodology & Historiography Past Paper Paper 2 Early History of Islam Past Paper Paper 3 Society in Muslim India Past Paper Paper 4 Muslim Freedom Movement in South Asia 1858 - 1947 Past Paper Paper 5 History of Pakistan Past Examination Paper M.A History Part 2 Group A Past Paper Sargodha University

  9. M.A History Part 1 Paper 1of (Research Methodology & Historiography) of

    Tags: 2009 Papers, History Past Papers, Last 5 Years Papers, M.A Part-1 Past Papers, M.A Past Papers, Objective Paper, Sargodha University Past Papers, Subjective Papers Home » Sargodha University UOS » M.A History Part 1 Paper 1of (Research Methodology & Historiography) of Sargodha University Annual Exam 2009

  10. Historical Research Approaches to the Analysis of ...

    Historical research methods and approaches can improve understanding of the most appropriate techniques to confront data and test theories in internationalisation research. A critical analysis of all "texts" (sources), time series analyses, comparative methods across time periods and space, counterfactual analysis and the examination of outliers are shown to have the potential to improve ...

  11. PDF HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY

    HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY . HIST 300-001 CRN 10991 FALL 2020 . TUESDAY AND THURSDAY, 12:30-1:45 204 KINARD ... sources that past historians have gathered, evaluated, edited, and annotated—they must be aware ... more formal research paper. The research paper will have a rough draft allowing for revision.

  12. Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History Sargodha University

    Here you can download Past Papers of Paper-I Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History, Part One, 1st & 2nd Annual Examination, 2018 University of Sargodha. Research Methodology and Historiography UOS Past Papers 2018

  13. Research Methods for History

    A wide-ranging critical survey of methods for historical research at all levels Historians have become increasingly sensitive to social and cultural theory since the 1980s, yet the actual methods by which research is carried out in History have been largely taken for granted. Research Methods for History encourages those researching the past to think creatively about the wide range of methods ...

  14. Tools and techniques for historical research

    It is a fantastic instrument for studying the human past - the historian's equivalent of CERN or the Hubble Telescope. And all you need to get in is a student ID. Further reading. Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. William, The Craft of Research, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2003).

  15. What Is a Research Methodology?

    Step 1: Explain your methodological approach. Step 2: Describe your data collection methods. Step 3: Describe your analysis method. Step 4: Evaluate and justify the methodological choices you made. Tips for writing a strong methodology chapter. Other interesting articles.

  16. Historical method

    t e Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past.

  17. Historical Research

    Table of Contents Historical Research Definition: Historical research is the process of investigating and studying past events, people, and societies using a variety of sources and methods. This type of research aims to reconstruct and interpret the past based on the available evidence. Types of Historical Research

  18. Past Papers

    Online Past Paper Search: Exam Papers Find past exam papers online . Search: Faculty: Level: View Past Paper Search Instructions; NB: The Past Papers are in PDF format ... HIST2900 - Research Methods in History. The University of the West Indies. Cave Hill, Barbados. Tel: (246) 417-4000 | Fax: (246) 425-1327 ...

  19. Research Methodology (Paper 2)

    Version 1 2022-03-30, 23:06. online resource. posted on 2016-10-31, 17:00 authored by UJ Exam Papers Admin. Exam paper for second semester: Research Methodology (Paper 2)

  20. M.A Part 1 History Paper 1 (Research Methodology & Historiography

    Tags: 2008 Papers, History Past Papers, Last 5 Years Papers, M.A Part-1 Past Papers, M.A Past Papers, Objective Paper, Sargodha Board Past Papers, Subjective Papers Home » Sargodha Board » M.A Part 1 History Paper 1 (Research Methodology & Historiography) Sargodha Board 2008

  21. Research Methodology Paper 1 MA History Part 1 UOS Past Papers

    Research Methodology Paper 1 MA History Part 1 UOS Past Papers. October 9, 2021 January 25, 2020 by Muhammad Shahid Azeem. ... State and Society in Muslim India MA History Part 1 UOS Past Papers Download Paper Muslim Freedom Movement in South Asia MA History-1 UOS Past Papers

  22. Visual Media Symposium 2024

    She is the past chair of the Computational Methods Division of the International Communication Association, and the founding associate editor of the journal Computational Communication Research, as well as the associate editor of Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and ...

  23. Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History Sargodha University

    Here you can download Past Papers of Paper-I Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History, Part One, 1st & 2nd Annual Examination, 2016 University of Sargodha. Research Methodology and Historiography UOS Past Papers 2016

  24. Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History Sargodha University

    Sargodha University MA History Paper-I Research Methodology and Historiography Past Papers 2017 Here you can download Past Papers of Paper-I Research Methodology and Historiography, MA History, Part One, 1st & 2nd Annual Examination, 2017 University of Sargodha. Research Methodology and Historiography UOS Past Papers 2017