Research Strategies

HIST 7405: Research MethodsSarah Lawrence College

Margot NoteOctober 24, 2016

Course Requirements and Grading• Pass/fail course• Attendance (60%) and written work (40%)

Written Work• Journal of 5 short entries • Due March 6, 2017• Can be submitted individually after each session or all at once • Each entry should be dated, signed, and at least two paragraphs • Your journal will be returned to you with comments

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Written Work• First four entries discuss:• What surprised you?• What skills or resources were new to you?• What did you already know? • Describe a specific idea the session has given you for your research process

Written Work• Fifth entry considers your research process for your thesis• Where will you look for information? • What sources and information resources are available to you locally? • What type of research are you interested in carrying out?• What sorts of materials will you need to find for that type of project?

Archives Visit• Brainstorm about locations• Possible dates and times• Transportation options• February 2017

Do you know your thesis topic?

Agenda• Historical Categories of Inquiry• Research Questions• Recall/Precision• Search Strategies• Beyond Text• Self-Care for Researchers• Discussion/Questions

Historical Categories of Inquiry

Five Major Categories• Cause and effect • Change and progression• Turning point • Using the past • Through their eyes

Cause and Effect• Most familiar category • Ask questions about the causes and consequences of past events• Our answers, our historical interpretations, take the form of stories

about causes and consequences

Change and Progression• We also ask questions about what has changed and what has

remained the same over time• Answers to questions about change and progression connect events

and give meaning to the chronological sequence of events

Turning Point• We wonder if the change was so dramatic that the topic of study was

a historical turning point• By studying the historical records we are able to reach conclusions

that some events or developments so dramatically changed a society’s ideas, choices, and ways of living that some paths of development could no longer be followed and others became more likely or possible.

Using the Past• In other cases we look to the past as a guide to our present• We want to know about the particular course of events that shaped

our present• We are using the past to seek guidance in the form of “lessons of

history” that can help us grapple with current problems

Through Their Eyes• We find it both necessary and fascinating to examine the ways in

which people of different times, places, and conditions made sense of the world• We consider how their experiences, needs, and worldviews affected

their actions and the course of events • We try to imagine their world through their eyes• Avoid presentism

What category will you use?

What is a good research question?

Research Questions• Address something of significance that interests scholars• Have to be researchable• Ask questions that haven’t been definitely answered• Try to make sense of the world

Good questions have the power to turn meaningless information into meaningful answers. And while answers have the power to change what you think, questions have the power to change how you think—or, even better, to make you think.

—Jim Cullen, Essaying the Past

Historiography• Systematic method for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing

existing body of work• Provides understanding how people formed arguments• Allow researchers to become part of a larger dialogue • Determines if project is work is worth taking on

“Informed Serendipity”• Non-strategic research method• Historians: expert researchers• Students: coping strategies• Incomplete and inefficient

Recall and Precision

Recall• Percentage of all relevant sources that are actually located during the

search

Precision• The percentage of all located sources that are actually relevant to the

researcher’s interests.

Recall vs. Precision• Often inversely related• Goal is to find important information, including things outside the

normal scope of reading materials

How will you use recall or precision?

Search Strategies

Consultation• Involves locating references by corresponding with others• Low recall: limited by knowledge, memory, and biases• High precision: pre-screened for relevance • Ability to locate unpublished materials• Internet has increased its utility

Browsing• Looking through materials (e.g., library shelves, journal indexes) • High recall, since the amount of information collected is limited only

by the researchers willingness to continue searching• Low precision • Technology is improving the efficiency and effectiveness

Journal Run• Identify central journal in an area of interest• Locates the run of volumes of journal• Unlikely to meet need for information on a topic of the normal degree

of specificity associated with a research project• Useful more for general monitoring of the environment

Interactive scanning

• Start with a large set of results retrieved on a broad concept • As you scan retrieved items, the concept becomes clearer• Throw out redundant terms and include in relevant terms

Searching • Keyword Searching• Subject Searching• Publisher Searching• Series Searching• Author Searching • Identify an author who has published in the area of interest• Find the author's CV, which might contain obscure or unpublished materials

Subject Indexes• Search bibliographic descriptions with title, abstract, authors• Controlled-vocabulary terms (e.g., subject headings, index terms)• High recall and low precision • Precision improved by combining keywords and controlled-vocabulary

searches • Search-refining capabilities such as combining or limiting searches

Building Blocks• Divide a query into facets• Create sets of conceptually related concepts by combining related

terms and/or synonyms using the Boolean OR operator• Add concepts together using Boolean AND operator

Pearl Growing• Utilizes bibliographic databases• Start with a very precise search to find one key relevant citation• Examine index terms and free text terms found in the relevant citation • Any new terms, not in your initial strategy, are incorporated• Continues until you have identified all additional relevant terms • Can be used for citations, subjects, internet pages…

Successive Fractions• First facet represents a major topic • Each subsequent facet is added as an AND condition to the results set• Each result set becomes smaller until number of retrieved references

becomes manageable • Can save time• Smaller result sets of higher relevance

Most Specific Facet First• Start the search with the most specific aspect of the query• Usually selected where there is precision • Appropriate for narrow topics• If set size is too small, then use pearl growing• If set size is too larger, then successively fractionate

Lowest Postings Facet First• Anticipate the facet with the lowest number of results• Review search results • Time is better spent on sifting, rather than adding more terms• Use pearl growing or successively fractionate

Drop a Facet• When the number of references in a result set falls below an

acceptable level (or reaches zero), drop the least relevant facet• Yields a more sensitive result set that is less vulnerable to the vagaries

of abstracting or indexing practice

Related Articles Features• Machine equivalent of pearl growing• One limitation of this automated approach is that articles may be

related across multiple characteristics, not simply those that are the focus of our search

Citation Searching• Identify an influential article• Locate all of the articles that cite it• Process can be repeated using the new materials as the starting point• Useful for tracing the orderly progression of a body of literature• Recall and precision tend to be high• Looks forward

Footnote Chasing• Identify an influential article• Locate useful information by searching the reference section• High precision, since other authors have reviewed the material• Recall is dependent on the quality of the literature review in the

source materials• Looks back

Berry-picking• Start with a query• If you find an answer or a partial answer, refine your search• Useful for scoping a research question, defining concepts, or

searching for specific information • Meta-strategy using footnote chasing, citation searching, journal run,

browsing, subject searches, and author searches

Serendip-o-matic• Connects your sources to digital materials located in libraries,

museums, and archives around the world• Helps you discover photographs, documents, maps and other primary

sources• Serendip-o-matic.com

What search strategies will work for you?

Beyond Text

Historical Sources• Images • Oral History• Online Resources• Social Media• International Resources

How can you incorporate non-text sources into your research?

Self-Care for Researchers

Planning Skills• Research takes longer than you expect• Break down infrastructure of work• Use your calendar to create blocks of writing time• Write regularly• Figure out priorities

Management Skills• Make a to-do list — paper or digital• Type citations of everything you read• Footnote as you go• Never put your work into a tool that you cannot easily export and

migrate to another platform • Backup to off-site options

Getting Unstuck• Pomodoro Technique • Productive Procrastination• Always Be Closing• Thorn before the Rose

What are your strategies? How can you be more kind to yourself

with this project?

How do you know that you’ve done good research at the end of the project?