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Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn on, and the historian's skill lies in identifying these sources, evaluating their relative authority, and combining their testimony appropriately in order ...
Historical research often starts with a research question to define the scope of the inquiry. Some research questions focus on a simple description of what happened. Others aim to explain why a particular event occurred, refute an existing theory, or confirm a new hypothesis. [120]
The dichotomy is used to discuss and evaluate the extent to which a historical development or event represents a decisive historical change or whether a situation remains largely unchanged. A good example of this discussion is the question of how much the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 represents an important change in European history .
This historical approach to explanation differs from and complements the approach known as functionalism, which seeks to explain a phenomenon, such as for example a social form, by providing reasoned arguments about how that social form fulfills some function in the structure of a society. In contrast, rather than taking the phenomenon as a ...
Using both quantitative data and qualitative sources, economic historians emphasize understanding the historical context in which major economic events take place. They often focus on the institutional dynamics of systems of production , labor , and capital , as well as the economy's impact on society, culture, and language.
Historical study focusing on the empirical evidence of the past, including manuscripts and archives, and archaeological and historic sites and artifacts. The term is now often used in a pejorative sense to refer to an excessively narrow interest in historical trivia, to the exclusion of a sense of historical context or process. antiquities
Historical criticism (also known as the historical-critical method (HCM) or higher criticism, [1] in contrast to lower criticism or textual criticism [2]) is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts to understand "the world behind the text" [3] and emphasizes a process that "delays any assessment of scripture's truth and relevance until after the act of ...
Comparative historical research is a method of social science that examines historical events in order to create explanations that are valid beyond a particular time and place, either by direct comparison to other historical events, theory building, or reference to the present day.