Available Data Research

Question 1

What is Available Data Research? (5 points)

Answer 1

• Is research that makes use of data that already exists before the research is undertaken.
• It involves the use & analysis of secondhand data:
• Data that were not produced by any researcher, or for the purposes of research.
• Is research that does not involve the direct observation of the people or groups being studied.

Question 2

What are the two sources of Available Data Research?

Answer 2

1. Written Evidence
2. Evidence of material culture and archaeology

Question 3

Explain “Written Evidence source”.

Answer 3

• Historians make use of written evidence, historical documents (called primary sources) to understand, interpret, and reconstruct the human past.
• Evidence reflects aspects of the history, culture, views and ideas of the people who wrote it.

Question 4

Explain “Evidence of material culture and archaeology”.

Answer 4

• Archaeologists make use of archeological remains, called artifacts, to build up and piece together a picture of the past.

Question 5

What is Historical Research? (3 points)

Answer 5

• Is the writing of a chronological narrative of events in the past as affecting a nation or a particular group
• Is the study and description of events in the past, and the ordering of those events in a chronological sequence.
• Historical analysis presents an explanation of the causes of those events.

Question 6

What are Primary Sources?

Answer 6

• To write history, historians primarily make us of available data in the form of primary sources:
• Refers to any original source of written evidence that was created in the past:
  Written by people who lived at the time being studied by the modern historian
• Historians select particular details from them (dates, facts, events) and synthesize those details into a narrative.

Question 7

List the 4 forms that Primary Sources can take up.

Answer 7

1. Public documents & official records
2. Writings of historians who lived at the time being studied
3. Personal documents:
4. DNA testing

Question 8

List 1 advantage of Available Data Research (2 points).

Answer 8

• Because it provides a unique long-range view of human history and cultural evolution, it is well-suited to the study of social & cultural change:
• It provides the kinds of information needed to understand the history and development of human societies over time.

Question 9

List 1 disadvantage of Available Data Research and give an example.

Answer 9

• Problem of accuracy & reliability of primary sources:
• The writer’s ideological position may have influenced their interpretation and account of events.
• Ex: Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico (this is an example of a primary source).