Looking for texts on principles of research methods

[John T. Fishel]

Since much of today's "tradecraft" is based on the WWII experience, I'd ask about that and, perhaps, his perception of its current applicability.

But, again, what is the purpose of your research?

[jcustis]

But, again, what is the purpose of your research?

http://mikesadlerproject.blogspot.com/

I hope the Inauguration post at the bottom of the link can provide a concise description of my aims.

[John T. Fishel]

JC--

You really have clarified what you are trying to do. Going back to my initial response to your original question, I'd recommend the most recent edition of The Modern Researcher by Jaques Barzun and Henry Graff of Columbia. It is history focused but has been updated significantly over the version I read to take account of modern research technology, so I'm given to undeerstand.

Clearly, you are not interested in "tradecraft" in the traditional sense. But you might try contacting the Imperial War Museum as astarting point.

Cheers

JohnT

[jcustis]

Thanks JTF. I'm going to check out the 5th edition on hand at the Gray Research Center, and work my way in from there.

[davidbfpo]

Before considering what you want to ask JAC read a little on witness memory and interviewing techniques. There are many police / law enforcement texts and trying to recall them (fading memory) they espouse using the cognitive method. People remember things in different orders to those posing the prepared questions. Even more so since it is a very long time ago you plan to ask about. I'd try some "props" to help, the map(s) and compass you cite.

davidbfpo

[marct]

David makes a good point on object recall. One other method you might try is called the "life historical" and is (basically) a form of story-telling. It gets people to tell stories about key incidents in their lives or about other people and then analyzes the stories to figure out how people re-construct their memories. There's no really good text on the subject, although there are some bad ones . The two people I know best who use the method and use it really well are Andrea Doucet and Karen March, both in the Sociology / Anthropology department at Carleton.

Marc

[jcustis]

David,

That advice to get smart on interview techniques was absolutely spot on! The matter never crossed my mind before, but in the bit of googling I have done thus far, I can see why the material is important to grasp.

I'd checked on a couple of oral history sites, but they didn't even scratch the surface for techniques to pull out the memories.

Thanks for that.

Same with your paper Marc. Good stuff guys, and keep it coming.

[Norfolk]

Well jcustis, try these links for qualitatative research methods (if you haven't got what you need already):

Marine Corps Historical Writing Guide, Revised Edition, 2004.

U.S. Army Guide to Oral History, 2006, by Stephen J. Lofgren

You obviously don't need any help with your interview technics though Jon, as your interview last year with the RLI vet was a great example of Semi-Structured/Cognitive Interview Techniques, which have recently been proposed for use by the U.S. Army (see Page 9) when developing Doctrinal and Operational Concepts (it seems that Structured Interviews, not surprisingly, made for less than informative responses):

Technical Report 1167, Concept Development for Future Domains: A New Method of Knowledge Elicitation, by Scott B. Shadrick et al. (United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, June 2005)

Instructions for draft interview-guide for WP4 - The third and last page is the best!


Cognitive Interviewing: A "How To" Guide, by Gordon B. Willis et al.(Research Triangle Institute, 1999).

[davidbfpo]

Jon and others,

Twenty-five years ago I went on a course on this then new technique and one of the best speakers was Ray Bull. He has moved on in the academic world and has published many texts on the method, plus their specialist application e.g. child witnesses.

I've Googled his name and the technique and this is thest, short explanation (also the first page of the hits):

http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU50.html

davidbfpo

[jcustis]

Ran this requirement down...

[Entropy]

If you're looking for organizational tools as well, this may be useful. It's particularly powerful when paired to a tablet notebook.

[Lostcomm]

Try these. They're the assigned texts for my dissertation classes (and they're not bad):


Trochim, W (2001) Research Methods Knowledge Base Atomicdogpublishing.com ISBN: 1931442487

Zikmund, W (2002) Business Research Methods South-Western ISBN: 0030350840

-LC

[Steve Blair]

Well jcustis, try these links for qualitatative research methods (if you haven't got what you need already):

Marine Corps Historical Writing Guide, Revised Edition, 2004.

U.S. Army Guide to Oral History, 2006, by Stephen J. Lofgren

You obviously don't need any help with your interview technics though Jon, as your interview last year with the RLI vet was a great example of Semi-Structured/Cognitive Interview Techniques, which have recently been proposed for use by the U.S. Army (see Page 9) when developing Doctrinal and Operational Concepts (it seems that Structured Interviews, not surprisingly, made for less than informative responses):

Technical Report 1167, Concept Development for Future Domains: A New Method of Knowledge Elicitation, by Scott B. Shadrick et al. (United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, June 2005)

Instructions for draft interview-guide for WP4 - The third and last page is the best!


Cognitive Interviewing: A "How To" Guide, by Gordon B. Willis et al.(Research Triangle Institute, 1999).

There's also a section on the Library of Congress site dealing with veteran interviews here. It's simple, but it has some useful forms and interview methodologies.

You might also want to look at some basic historical writing/research sources like The Modern Researcher. Some of the reviews are whiny, but I think that's because some folks want a "one size fits all" approach to historical writing...and frankly there isn't one, at least not for more advanced writing and research. Many books focus mainly on the college essay and term paper, and your project is more than that.