Research Methodology

Selection of Topic for Research

• Selecting a topic for research is of vital importance and must be done with utmost care.
• Success in historical writing depends on the proper selection of the subject.
• A wrong choice of topic could result in regret and disappointment.
• Historical research could focus on:
  
  • Addition of new data.
  • New interpretation of known data.
  • Subordination of data to a principle.
• A scholar should aim to discover or unearth something new, a hidden historical truth that hasn’t been researched before.
• The subject is typically chosen with the assistance of a guide and supervisor.
• The guide should provide broad outlines about ancient, medieval, and modern periods, as well as political, social, economic history, or biographical studies.
• Scholars should choose a subject based on their interests, tastes, and aptitudes related to a region, trend, period, person, or institution.
• The area and period selected should be limited in scope; modern research is specialized in small areas or short periods of time.
• Research can focus on a historical personality (e.g., Pandit Nehru), a group (e.g., Nadars or Maravars), or an institution (e.g., caste, religion, Panchayat Raj).
• Researchers working on Ancient India must be able to analyze archaeological sources, decipher ancient scripts, read inscriptions, and understand the Sanskrit language.
• Those researching the Sangam age must have knowledge of Tamil literature.
• For medieval period research, scholars need to know Persian, Urdu, and Arabic, and handle inscriptional evidence.
• Modern period researchers should know English, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and relevant regional languages to handle archival material, such as travel accounts and factory records.
• A review of new books and bibliographical articles provides clues for choosing a research topic.
• Subjects of comparative history should be avoided by fresh scholars.
• The nature of enquiry, study, and practical problems involved will serve as determining factors in choosing the subject.
• The saying, “When you succeed in choosing the proper subject, your research is half done,” stresses the significance of choosing the right topic.
• Selecting the topic is of vital importance and must be done with utmost care.

Requirements of a Researcher

• Research is undertaken to bring out something new, to extend the horizon of knowledge, and contribute original ideas.
• A scholar needs the aptitude, training, and technical know-how to get interested in the chosen topic.
• For research in certain periods, adequate training in handling archaeological, epigraphic, and numismatic material is essential. Scholars focusing on the modern period should be proficient in locating and handling archival sources.
• The research project should be practical, with source material available to the required extent and within reach, without causing undue hardship.
• The researcher should be able to use the material freely without concern about censorship by the owner or custodian.
• The size of the research should align with the nature of the study, such as a project report, journal article, master’s dissertation, doctoral thesis, or book publication.
• Factors like extent of the area, duration of the period, availability of source material, and nature of contents influence the size of the work.
• The subject chosen must have a central theme, a direction, and a promise of specific conclusions. It should not be disjointed.
• A thesis should have a unifying theme, based on chronology or a specific social phenomenon (e.g., caste conflict or class struggle), but avoid overly broad topics.
• The researcher must have a labor of love, a taste for the subject, and the ability to sustain hard work.
• The researcher should be willing to search for data in unknown areas, overcome obstacles, and possess the iron-will to complete the thesis.
• Personal honesty and moral integrity are crucial. The scholar should maintain a balance of judgment, avoid exaggeration, and ensure conclusions are supported by evidence.
• The scholar must not distort or twist evidence, even for literary artistry, and must avoid religious, racial, class, communal, regional, or national preconceptions and prejudices.
• An alert and mobile mind is necessary. The scholar should respond quickly to new data and keep the mind constantly switched on to the subject.
• According to Professor K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, the scholar should avoid running into mental grooves and interpret new or old data in the proper light.
• The researcher should not be in a hurry or hasty to finish work. Patience is key.
• Patience is the cardinal virtue of a scholar; the quality of work is more important than time taken.
• In research, the criterion is quality of work, and whether the requisite excellence has been achieved.
• A historian must acquire practical skills, such as how to collect notes, prepare bibliography, and plan the work.
• These are preparatory operations before analyzing, verifying, and unifying the data.
• The historian should know the historical method, which saves time and energy while ensuring quality.

Collection of Data

• Historical research method consists of collection of data (heuristics), criticism, synthesis, and exposition.
• The term “heuristics” is derived from the German term heuristik, meaning “discover.” In historical method, it stands for the art of searching for and collecting various documents, which are the main sources of history.
• Sources are the places of origin of evidence and the bedrock of historical research. They are often not easily available and must be searched out.
• Data collection is the most tedious part of historical research, and the historian’s mainstay is the source.
• The historian never faces facts directly like a natural scientist but only sees the residue of facts.
• There are two kinds of sources: primary and secondary.
• Primary sources are original in character and a fountain of information, usually contemporaneous with the events they relate to. For example, Asoka’s inscriptions are primary sources for studying his reign.
• Secondary sources borrow their knowledge from others, and they are testimonies of someone not present at the time of the event.
• A primary source is the raw material, and a secondary source is the finished product.
• A first-rate historian prefers to go to the original sources of information.
• Secondary sources are coherent works of history in the form of articles, dissertations, or books that widen general historical knowledge.
• Sources directly related to the research topic are called primary sources. For example, Asoka’s inscriptions are primary sources, while the Junagadh Inscription of Rudradaman is a secondary source, as it was issued centuries later and is not contemporaneous with Asoka’s reign.
• Primary sources can be approached in two ways: they can be used to dispute or discover information found in secondary sources, or they can be approached “afresh” with the reader’s own questions in mind.
• Disagreement among historians often arises from differing evaluations of the same evidence.
• A close examination of Bahadur Shah’s proclamation during the Great Rebellion of 1857 would help evaluate the relative merits of the event, possible only with access to primary sources.
• Sources are divided into material and non-material sources. Archaeological monuments are considered material sources.
• Material sources are further classified into written and unwritten sources. Unwritten sources include buildings, coins, pictures, furniture, utensils, ornaments, etc.
• Written sources include official records, inscriptions, literature, and more. These can be further divided into official and non-official records.
• Official records include volumes of communications, consultations, and orders issued by the government or competent authorities.
• Non-official written sources are further subdivided into personal and narrative sources. Diaries, memories, letters are personal sources, while inscriptions, annals, chronicles, genealogical tables are narrative sources.
• Encyclopedia Americana classifies sources into primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
• Primary sources include documents generated by events themselves, such as archival records, letters, speeches, chronicles, diaries, reports, interviews, and oral evidence.
• Secondary sources include monographs, while tertiary sources refer to reference books, which are readily available in libraries.