HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

Appropriate of Research Design

Research design refers to a scheme or plan of action for meeting the objectives of the
study. Each design has its own applicability depending on the problem and objectives of the
study, the attributes and geographical dispersion of the subjects under study, and several other
factors like the investigator’s capability, resources and time.

Reliability and Validity

Reliability refers to the degree of consistency, accuracy, stability, dependability and

predictability of the research instrument or procedure. A research instrument or procedure that
will yield the same results, even if conducted twice, is reliable.

Validity refers to that quality of research instrument or procedure that enables it to

measure what it is supposed to measure and to produce data that are true and accurate. By Fox
(1969) he said: the “reliability for a procedure is essential before its validity can be considered,
and the actual reliability sets the ceiling for the maximum validity the instrument can posses.”

1. History. This factor refers to events which happen during the life of a study.
2. Selection. This factor occurs when the subjects of the study are chosen to form the study
groups.
3. Testing. This factor refers to the effect of a test given repeatedly or before exposing the
subjects to an intervention or treatment (pretest) and the same is given in the posttest.
4. Instrumentation. This factor refers to the unreliability or lack of consistency in measuring
instruments which may result in an invalid assessment of performance.
5. Maturation. This factor refers to the changes=physiological or psychological-which
happen to the subjects involved in a study conducted over a relatively long period of
time.
6. Mortality. This factor refers to loss of cases or subjects during the posttest stage of the
study. This is often true when the same groups of people are studied over a period of
time.

Experimental, factorial, action, participatory and operations research designs.

Historical Research Design

According to Best and Khan (1986), a “truthful and integrated account of the
relationships between persons, events, times and places.”
Coverage and Goal

There are studies the ultimate goal of which is to know how an institution, political
territory, events, or conditioned developed into their present status. There are also studies which
aim to find out the whole truth on issues which are vague, confusing, doubtful, or incomplete
thus fueling various speculations.

Historical research is the “systematic and objective location, evaluation and synthesis of
evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about past events” (Cohen and Manion,
1980). Kerlinger (1986) defines it as “the critical investigation of events, developments, and
experience of the past, the careful weighing of evidence of the validity of source of information
on the past, and the interpretation of the weighed evidence.” People, events, ideas, things, time
and place. The goal of historical research is to know the whole truth of what happened in the past
so that we will not only understand the present but will be helped in “knowing what to do in the
present and future” (Fox, 1969).

Motivations for Historical Research

A researcher may be motivated to go into historical research by a number of reasons.

First, he may have some doubts about some reported events, the development of an organization
or institutions, or the experience of a person or group. Second, the researcher may have stumbled
upon source materials which had never been discovered before but which may shed light to un-
answered questions about past events. Third, certain interpretation of historical data may not be
satisfactory, disputable or unbelievable so that a researcher will go into historical study so as to
accumulative evidence to prove his point. Fourth, gaps in historical exposition may motivate a
researcher to do historical investigation to fill those gaps so as to make the historical account
complete, more meaningful and more definitive.

Values of Historical Research

Historical research is valuable on a number of counts which were summarized by Hills

and Kerber (1963) as follows:
1. It enables solutions to contemporary problems to be sought in the past,
2. It throws light on present and future trends,
3. It stresses the relative importance and the effects of the various interactions that are to be
found within all cultures, and
4. It allows for the re-evaluation of data in relation to selected hypotheses, theories and
generalizations that are presently held about the past.

Source of Data

The primary sources of data are classified into three groups. One group consist of
documents or records written and kept by actual participants in or witnesses of, an event for the
purpose of transmitting information for future use. Documents considered as primary sources
include books, research reports, census data, newspaper and magazine accounts, laws, contracts,
wills, receipts, maps, biographies, letters, diaries, memoranda, charters, declarations and
proclamations.

Another group of primary sources are remains or relics which objects associated with a
person, group or period. Classified in this category are skeletons, fossils, weapons, tools,
utensils, picture, coins, and building clothing’s and art objects.

One last group of primary sources are oral testimonies. Spoken account of a witness of,
or participant in, an event. Obtained in a personal interview and may be recorded or transcribed
as the witness relates his experience.

Secondary sources of data are accounts of persons who were not actually present when
the event happened but who obtained the descriptions from the report or testimony of an actual
witness or participation in an event. Secondary sources of historic information include textbooks,
quoted material, encyclopedia reproductions of material or information, prints of paintings and
replicas of art objects. Hill and Kerber (1963) stressed this when they argued that “ …the
investigator should never be satisfied with copies of document that can be obtained in original
form…”because of possible errors in reproduction process.

Historical Criticism

Historical evidence should be the result of a process which sifts the true from false or
misleading data. This process is called historical criticism which is in two stages. The first stage
is external criticism and the second stage is the internal criticism.

External criticism is meant to establish the authenticity or genuineness of the document

or any source material of the data. Its purpose is to ensure that the document are not mere
forgeries or inventions nor are they products of frauds or hoaxes. These tests may involve
authenticating handwriting, signatures, handwriting, script, type, spelling, and names of places.

Internal criticism, also known as textual criticism, is to be done after the documents
passed the external criticism. In this stage the purpose is to evaluate the accuracy and worth of
the data.

Limitations of Historical Research

While historical research is useful and challenging it has some limitations findings. These
limitations were summarized by Best and Kahn (1989) thus:

1. The historian cannot usually generalize on the basis of past events.

2. The historian must depend upon the reported observation of others, often witnesses of
doubtful competence and sometimes of doubtful objectivity.
3. The historian is much like person trying to complete