Implications: In historical research, data include primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include documents such as memos, professional organization minutes, legislative committee reports, journals, newspapers, demographic data, government documents, philanthropic foundation studies, letters, films, diaries, video and audio recordings of events, and pictures. Secondary data sources generally consist of published historiographies. Identifying where data collections are housed is a major aspect of any history project. Important data may be identified in public and private libraries, formal archives, or even personal papers kept in private homes. Common and creative methods for identifying sources and the problem of missing data will be discussed.

Accessing data sources varies with the location of the data. The presenter will identify issues related to accessing data in public and private libraries, archives, private collections, and internet sources.

Like other research methods, measures of reliability and validity of data are important in historical research, since threats to reliability and validity can jeopardize the quality and accuracy of the research findings. Reliability and validity in historical research is understood and determined in quite different ways from other research methods and an explanation of these differences will be presented.

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Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004