WHEN “HISTORY” HAPPENS TO RESEARCH: A TALE OF ONE PROJECT, TWO RESEARCHERS, AND THREE COUNTRIES IN A TIME OF GLOBAL CRISIS

Oct 15, 2026

Examines how significant world events shape the research process even under carefully planned and rigorously executed international projects. Based on experiences from a three-year SSHRC-funded international data collection period, it argues that social context influences planning, funding, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. It challenges treating history as a minor variable and proposes reframing history as an integral element of research design and process, especially in cross-cultural settings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Research and historical events

Social context in research design

Reliability, validity, and generalizability

History effect and internal validity

Cross-cultural research implications

WHEN “HISTORY” HAPPENS TO RESEARCH: A TALE OF ONE PROJECT, TWO RESEARCHERS, AND THREE COUNTRIES IN A TIME OF GLOBAL CRISIS Nathalie Piquemal & Sandra Kouritzin1 In this article, we have examined how historical events shape the research process, even when research is carefully planned and rigorously executed. Through an examination of our experiences conducting international data collection during a three‐year SSHRC funded period in which the War on Terrorism and the War in Iraq began, we suggest that social context affects all aspects of every research project, from planning, to funding, to data collection, analysis, and dissemination. History, particularly significant world events, should be re‐examined and redefined so that it is no longer understood as a variable that affects poorly planned research, but rather as an integral part of the research design and process. Key words: international education, mixed methods, foreign language Dans cet article, les auteurs examinent comment les événements historiques transforment le processus de recherche, même lorsque la recherche est soigneusement planifiée et rigoureusement exécutée. Par le biais dʹune recherche subventionnée par le CRSH et au cours de laquelle commença la guerre au terrorisme et la guerre en Irak, les auteurs font un examen de leur propre expérience de la collecte de données internationales, faite durant une période de trois ans. Ils suggèrent que le contexte social influence tous les aspects de la recherche, de la planification jusquʹaux résultats, de la collecte des données à leur analyse et à leur diffusion. Ils affirment que lʹhistoire devrait être réexaminée et redéfinie de telle manière quʹelle ne soit plus considéréecomme une variable mais plutôt comme une partie intégrante du plan directeur de la recherche et de son contenu. Mots clés: éducation internationale, méthodes mixtes, langue étrangère _________________ CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 29, 4 (2006): 1271‐1294 The respondent survey, or questionnaire, seemed the most comparable way of looking at countries, for example, attitudinal comparisons. We learned about its problems. First, the assumption is that individuals are differentiated, separate from the group or system, and have acquired values, attitudes and other attributes that differ from others. This is widely disputed. Values, for example, are often not acquired characteristics of individuals that influence their behaviour but, rather, emanate from the system (such as an ideology), or from situation (such as crises). Second, it is likely that social development or a culture determines individual differentiation, which defines the ʹnormal ʹ distribution, or bell‐shaped curve, of individual characteristics found in some countries. (Teune, 1990, p. 54). However, probably no theory that deals with a social/psychological phenomenon is actually reproducible, insofar as finding new situations or other situations whose conditions exactly match those of the original study, though many major conditions may be similar. Unlike study of a physical phenomenon, it is very difficult to set up experimental or other designs in which one can re‐create all of the original conditions and control all of the extraneous variables that may impinge upon the social/psychological phenomenon under investigation.(Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 250) All researchers, qualitative, quantitative, or those (such as ourselves) using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, set themselves the goal of collecting data that accurately represents a situation or social phenomenon. In quantitative research, researcher concerns with the scientific ʺholy trinityʺ of reliability, validity, and generalizability (e.g., Kvale, 1995, p. 20) are the means by which researchers establish control (or at least theoretical control) over the accuracy, stability, and consistency of the research process, and thus establish a kind of control over the research findings. In qualitative

FAQs

How do historical events affect the research process described in the article?

Historical events are argued to influence planning, funding, data collection, analysis, and dissemination, even when research is carefully designed and executed.

What does the article suggest about the role of “history” in research design?

It calls for history to be re-examined and redefined so it becomes an integral part of research design and process rather than a variable linked to poorly planned studies.

Why is replicating social/psychological research conditions difficult, according to the text?

Because new situations rarely match the original study’s conditions exactly, and unlike physical phenomena, it is very hard to recreate all original conditions and control extraneous variables.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Blue Pony