Research Basics: Part One

It is time to get back to research basics. I suspect that the only formal training, if any, that most people have regarding research is some sort of "research project" in grade school or high school. The idea of these projects is to produce a research paper or a "project" such as one for a science fair or other presentation. I realize that my formal educational experience took place back in the dark ages but I have lots of grandchildren who are going through various stages of schooling and in some cases, I can see what they are doing and learning.

There is no question that the students who make it to upper-division and advanced degrees in colleges and universities may get a measurable dose of research experience depending on their major but the key here is the type of research training they receive. There are some major divisions in the types of research. These divisions include scientific research, legal research, historical research and possibly some others. In each division, there are distinct methodologies and there is a significant measure of confusion between the different methodologies. A methodology is a system of processes or procedures used in a particular area of study or activity. As I continue with this series of posts, I will focus on some of the differences between the different divisions in research but one example will help to explain one level of differences. For example, legal research focuses on a limited set of court decisions unknown to the researcher but possibly well-known to the legal community while scientific research focuses on areas of knowledge that are generally unknown to the scientific community at large. To extend this example, legal research and historical research (which includes genealogical research) are very similar with the exception that legal research focuses on a much narrower area of investigation.

I have a lot of opportunities to help people with their historical/genealogical research and I can readily observe their level of understanding and competence. But before getting into any more personal observations, I think it would be a good idea to examine the basic concepts of doing "research."

General definitions of research include a number of similar concepts. I will start with this school definition from a short article from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts entitled, "What is Research?"

Research is a process of systematic inquiry that entails collection of data; documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information, in accordance with suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines. 

Research is conducted to evaluate the validity of a hypothesis or an interpretive framework; to assemble a body of substantive knowledge and findings for sharing them in appropriate manners; and to generate questions for further inquiries.

This is a pretty good starting point. First of all, research is a process and it is systematic. As research applies to history and particularly family history the process focuses on historical records and documentation. When I use the term "historical" I also mean documents that are presently being created. Once the document or record is created it automatically becomes "historical" so the results of a currently obtained DNA test are certainly included in this definition. 

Here is a short beginning case study to show how I begin to do some historical research from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. I will be using the Family Tree for a lot of examples because it is a neverending source for research opportunities. 

Cynthia Shepherd is one of the my great-aunts. If you were to examine this record, even superficially, you would soon see that her birthdate is estimated to be eight years after her mother's death date. 

This one problematic fact mandates some research. The objective of the research could be put in the form of a question: is the birthdate of Cynthia Shepherd correct? However, there are several other questions that arise from the information in these families. How we answer those questions is the process we call research. 

Stay tuned for the next installments.