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10.4 The historical method - Coggle Diagram
10.4 The historical method
Understanding the past
Selecting Evidence
Bias can influence the evidence we select.
The evidence available to a historian is necessarily limited. The reasons are:
The primary sources of evidence, both archaeological and written, will be limited to what has survived from the time.
Historians only need to select the relevant evidence that is pertinent to the scope of their historical research.
Examining Evidence
Secondary sources
Primary sources (Bedrock of history)
Modern secondary sources (They are created with the new sources and new methods)
Evaluating the sources using consistent and reliable methods and the reliability of sources are very important in terms of acquisition of knowledge.
Explaining the past
What if...? Question is important for discovering the possible consequences of a historical event and it also creates virtual history.
History is also concerned with explaining the past and trying to understand why events happened.
According to E.H. Carr there are three types of causes. These are short-term, intermediate and long-term causes.
Assesing significance
The problem of bias
Types of Bias
Topic choice bias
: It is when a historian picks something related to their society.
Bias identified in evidence:
A primary source may be biased if it implicitly or explicitly favours one particular viewpoint or person.
Confirmation Bias:
A historian might be tempted to appeal only to evidence that supports their own case, and to ignore any counter-evidence.
National bias:
Since people come to history with a range of pre-existing cultural and political prejudices, they may find it difficult to deal objectively with sensitive issues that touch on things like national pride.
The historian is not just interested in a recall of information, nor an accumulation of facts and dates. They are interested in understanding patterns.
The same event or same person can have different legitimate interpretations, and the task of the historian is to understand this complexity.
Primary and secondary sources are used to explain the causes of events, or understand the patterns of continuity and change over time.
The best historians are capable of a first-rate selection ans synthesis of evidence.
History is concerned with only the significant events in the past.
Assesing historical significance is closely related to selection, which can be problematic.
Historical significance is a product of society , culture and education, and what is considered significant will change through time.