Quantitative history
Encyclopedia
Quantitative History is an approach to historical research
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 that makes use of quantitative
Quantitative research
In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to...

, statistical and computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 tools. It is considered a branch of social science history and has three leading journals: Historical Methods (1967- ), Social Science History (1976- ), and the Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
The Journal of Interdisciplinary History is a peer-reviewed academic journal published four times a year by the MIT Press. It covers a broad range of historical themes and periods, linking history to other academic fields.-Contents:...

 (1968- ).

Data bases: social and political

Quantitative historians start with data bases. Large quantities of economic and demographic data are available in print format. The quantifiers held move these into computerized data bases. The largest repository is the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
ICPSR, the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, was established in 1962. An integral part of the infrastructure of social science research, ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction , and offers in...

 (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, which provides access to an extensive collection of downloadable political and social data for the US and the world.

Data bases: economic

The economic historians have access to major data sets, especially those collected by governments since the 1920s. Historians of slavery have used census data, sales receipts and price information to reconstruct the economic history of slavery.

Content analysis
Content analysis
Content analysis or textual analysis is a methodology in the social sciences for studying the content of communication. Earl Babbie defines it as "the study of recorded human communications, such as books, websites, paintings and laws."According to Dr...

 is a technique borrowed from journalism research whereby newspapers, magazines or similar sources are numerically coded according to a standardized list of topics. [Neuendorf, The Content Analysis Guidebook (2002)]

Political history

Quantifiers study topics like voting behavior of groups in elections, the roll call behavior of legislators, public opinion distribution, and the occurrence rate of wars and legislation. Collective biography uses standardized information on a large group to deduce patterns of thought and behavior.

New social history

The "new social historians" (new in the 1960s) use Census data and other data sets to study entire populations. Topics include demographic issues such as population growth rates, rates of birth, death, marriage and disease, occupational and education distributions, and migrations and population changes.

An especially challenging technique is linking names ("nominal record linkage") of the same person whose information appears in multiple source such as censuses, city directories, employment files and voting registration lists.

Topics

In 2007-2008, the most viewed articles in Social Science History represented the breadth and style of the field. The five most viewed were:
  1. S. J. Kleinberg, "Children's and Mothers' Wage Labor in Three Eastern U.S. Cities, 1880-1920" Mar 01, 2005; 29: 45-76.
  2. Ted L. Gragson, Paul V. Bolstad, "A Local Analysis of Early-Eighteenth-Century Cherokee Settlement," Sep 01, 2007; 31: 435-468.
  3. Helen Boritch, "The Criminal Class Revisited: Recidivism and Punishment in Ontario, 1871-1920," Mar 01, 2005; 29: 137-170.
  4. Javier Silvestre, "Temporary Internal Migrations in Spain, 1860-1930," Dec 01, 2007; 31: 539-574.
  5. Eric W. Sager, "The Transformation of the Canadian Domestic Servant, 1871-1931" Dec 01, 2007; 31: 509-537.

Other sources

  • Grinin, L.
    Leonid Grinin
    Leonid Grinin is a philosopher of history and sociologist.Born in Kamyshin , Grinin attended Volgograd Pedagogical University, where he got an M.A. in 1980. He got his Ph.D. from Moscow State University in 1996...

     2007. Periodization of History: A theoretic-mathematical analysis. In: History & Mathematics: Analyzing and Modeling Global Development. Edited by Leonid Grinin
    Leonid Grinin
    Leonid Grinin is a philosopher of history and sociologist.Born in Kamyshin , Grinin attended Volgograd Pedagogical University, where he got an M.A. in 1980. He got his Ph.D. from Moscow State University in 1996...

    , Victor C. de Munck, and Andrey Korotayev
    Andrey Korotayev
    Andrey Korotayev is an anthropologist, economic historian, and sociologist, with major contributions to world-systems theory, cross-cultural studies, Near Eastern history, and mathematical modeling of social and economic macrodynamics.Education and career=Born in Moscow, Andrey Korotayev attended...

    . Moscow: KomKniga, 2006. P.10-38. ISBN 9785484010011.
  • Kimberly A. Neuendorf. The Content Analysis Guidebook (2002)
  • Moyal, J.E. (1949) The distribution of wars in time. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
    Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
    The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society is a series of three peer-reviewed statistics journals published by Blackwell Publishing for the London-based Royal Statistical Society.- History :...

    , 112, 446-458.
  • Richardson, L. F. (1960). Statistics of deadly quarrels. Pacific Grove, CA: Boxwood Press.
  • Silver, N. C. & Hittner, J. B. (1998). Guidebook of statistical software for the social and behavioral sciences. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
  • Turchin, P., et al., eds. (2007). History & Mathematics: Historical Dynamics and Development of Complex Societies. Moscow: KomKniga. ISBN 5484010020
  • Wilkinson, D. (1980). Deadly quarrels: Lewis F. Richardson and the statistical study of war. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • Wright, Q. (1965, 2nd ed.). A study of war. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

External links

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