Research a foreign concept?

[JimKindred]

Over the past few years I have noticed more and more questions that are asked which could be answered very simply by opening a book. I have to ask is the simple act of trying to research a question a foreign concept with newer reenactors?

Granted, I grew up at a time in reenacting when the internet wasn’t an option, if we needed an answer we headed for the library, looked through the OR’s, read books on the subject or consulted museums. Is there some reason that people don’t do this now? Is it laziness? Lack of time or initiative? Or don’t know how to research a question in the first place? I have to question the intelligence of flinging a question out into cyberspace and accepting whatever answer bounces back as some do.

Often when someone asks a question I respond with the name of a book that they can find the answer in. Yes, some books are expensive or the money to buy them could be used on better kit but a interlibrary loan is still free which eliminates the money excuse for not being able to find a book if it is not available at the local library. The idea of giving the title of a book is that it might encourage the person asking the question to find the book and the answer, possibly in the process that person will also find additional information on the subject they had not considered when first researching the question. Added benefit with little additional effort.

At some point those of us who do research are going to fade into the distance, has anyone considered who is going sit down and do the research after that point is reached? At the rate things are headed I feel that doing research is soon to be a lost art.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Mr. Kindred, I think you hit on a good point: I graduated high school less than two decades back, and can tell you that I was not taught in school how to research a topic--and I had AP classes. I did learn the skill, but was taught by my mother (who spent time as a reference librarian before my arrival), and some choice mentors outside of the school system.

Learning to do research is an invaluable skill for any living history participant. It's a pretty basic process of coming up with a question, brainstorming for places to look up an answer, looking up the information, summarizing your conclusion, and recording where you found the vital bits. But too many people just don't know how to manage the brainstorming part... so they founder, and ask in an open forum... and hopefully, they'll go look in those books you recommend (the recommendation of which I heartily approve.)

[RyanBWeddle]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

I totally agree with you Jim!

This forum and the internet in general, cannot and should not be used as a substitute for cracking a spine on some of the classics.

Many of the more simple questions that are asked here over, and over, and over, and over ... can be answered so quickly if one would just go to the library and ask to look at Lords, or Todds, or Echoes of Glory . . .

Either they don't know these volumes exist or they are too lazy to work for the answers themselves...althought I do think that we do see here are a disproportionate amount of individuals who are 'research parasites'.
Alot of young/inexperienced folks show up here to get all the answers...

The wider historic/academic community knows how to filter out the junk and teaches true 'research' methods. The internet can be a blessing and a curse... With new technology, digital collections, and easier searchable catalogues, focused research becomes more and more effecient.

However, it also does bring on negatives as well....

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

It is true that many of these queries can be answered with proper research, and I own not more than 100 or so books on the subjects involved in the War Between the States myself, but there is a place and time for this kind of research and questions as well.

I think people should take their answers here, and other forums, with a grain of salt and continue their quest in earnest, but the forums offer a quick discourse and reference point on some things. The same old, same old newbie questions get a little tedious, but that at least shows SOME effort on someone's part to try and get it right. Had you rather them come to the AC and get good historically correct advice, or stroll around the average event and ask average, or less than average reenactors?

Often the forums can quickly give someone a quick fix for a problem or impression that needs to be addressed PDQ. It also creates a repository for information that can be quickly accessed. While that information is certainly not as empirical as books, it is valuable in its own right.

I agree that more people need to buy or borrow good books, and I feel that some people are mistakenly taking the easy road and trying to milk this cow for more than it is capable of producing; however, I also remember not more than two years ago, when I was seeking knowledge and guidance, there were many helpful links and helpful members of this forum that pointed me in the right direction to find that information.

It's also kind of like the thread on stupid questions. Some of these people are asking simple questions because they are trying to start rapport and discourse and aren't really sure how yet.

[dusty27]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

I would also hope that new guys use the "search" function on the forum before asking the questions that may have been answered last week. While not as extensive as the old files, we have discussed a lot of material since the new site's inception.

Give it a try.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

I love that they have started Beginner's bibliography. Almost all of the questions that are posted on this site could be answered by those books. Most of the other questions can be answered by a little common sense, or even a simple google search.

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

As an academic myself, I can tell you that lack of research skills extends into and through the college level. People's reluctance to do real research on their own stems from three things:
1) Lack of preparedness. They weren't taught to conduct research.
2) Desire for immediate gratification. They want the information NOW, and it's far quicker to ask someone who already has it than to look for it themselves. This is a cultural thing. We all want "it", whatever "it" is, now. We don't want to wait.
3) Laziness. No explanation necessary.

Lost with the process -- Opportunistic Learning. If you are inclined to do your own research, how many times have you gone to the books or to the internet and in the course of looking for the subject at hand found other neat and useful information along the way? Kind of like getting sidetracked in the dictionary -- you can build your vocabulary almost by accident!

I'm pretty sure that many of the great original references that show up here -- things that Plankmaker used to post, or the wonderful photos from the LOC, weren't found by somebody who sat down with the intent to look for "corpses at Antietam". They were found by somebody who was browsing through some real fine research sources and happened across them.

Posting reference sources in reply to questions may not make the questioner happy, but if the person asking is serious both he or she and the hobby will be improved thereby. And the rest of us, who may not be familiar with a particular source cited, will also be beneficiaries of the response.

Ron Myzie

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Allot more questions can be answered if people would just look at period photographs! Just that alone would stop all the "They never had", "Only had", and the "there were only two types" that are so common in this hobby.

[JimKindred]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Ron,

Your comment below sums up a great deal of what many are missing in doing their own research. By asking a simple question they usually get a simple answer but in researching they find a great deal more than they started out looking for.

"Lost with the process -- Opportunistic Learning. If you are inclined to do your own research, how many times have you gone to the books or to the internet and in the course of looking for the subject at hand found other neat and useful information along the way? Kind of like getting sidetracked in the dictionary -- you can build your vocabulary almost by accident!"

I appreciate everyone's participation in this thread, this is a subject I strongly believe needs to be discussed here and I am glad to see so many good comments being posted.

[lhsnj]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Jim

As many of the others have said there are multiple factors at work.
1) People don't know where to look or how to research.
Example: My wife teaches American Literature and English Composition at a local community college, and requires a research paper for a final paper. She is encountering kids who don't know how to look up topics on an author. She is also catching kids who find it easier to plagerize a paper from the internet than to actually do the work.

2) Is it possible that the method of teaching the newer generation is having an effect. They are being told what to think and say so why look for anything different?

In my own personal case, I joined the hobby and didn't even know much about where to look or how to find anything. All I had going for me was I had read "Killer Angels" and the Harold Coyle series. Since then I have used these forums to find great books like "Hardtack and Coffee", "Rebel Private" and others. Once I read them, I suggest them to other members of our unit. Also I browse the history sections of bookstores when I go in. I found "Touched by Fire" a great picture book with more photos for me to peruse.

Also I have tried to learn more about how to research by asking those on here for help. I posted an authentic photo in a gallery and asked what can be learned from the picture but it has received little or no response. Except for a couple of posts about the hair. So there are people looking for help but sometimes are getting ignored because it is a basic question.

Like the thread about "stupid" questions, sometimes it starts with something basic and can blossom. A few years back, I wanted to improve my impression and asked a simple question of Chris Anders about who made good RD trousers. He gave me an answer and referred me to Jim Mayo and Curt Compton who gave me some great email responses. Jim also sent me a short research paper he had done and I have held onto that since it pertained to a unit we portray. It was responses like theirs that have helped me and keep me coming here to look for new resources and ideas.

I have learned much and had many discussions with others about the topics on here. Topics relating to drill and camp life and much more that I have read something on these forums and then gone out and looked for more info or read the source that was mentioned.

The use of the search function on here is great and if people would just use it that might reduce the number of repeat questions. And maybe the issue is people aren't using the right search words to find what they want.

Our unit has run into the case where the founders are "retiring" from the hobby and with them goes the knowledge they gained. So we are in a fix as we are trying to play catchup and seeing the results of "because they said so".

Sorry to ramble and my duplicate other statements.

[CJSchumacher]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

The effects of a lack of research have become evident on a mass scale as well.

The whole "campaign" movement in this hobby over the last several years is much different from guys that started it decades ago. With their primary source research came along a much more discriminatory eye as to what is and isn't acceptable.

What do people say..."A copy of a copy only gets worse."

That pretty much sums up the material effort and approach by most in "this side" of the hobby. A general level of mediocrity has become the norm and even worse...looked upon as "authentic" by much of the hobby.

[marlin teat]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

I've always felt the most important parts of a book or article are the bibliography and footnotes and I feel pretty much the same way about these forums. The main reason I lurk here is for:
(1) Pointers to research resources of which I wasn't aware.
(2) Intellegent discussion of said research. Much of the knowledge such as Curt's firearm expertise is not published and he deserves to commended for sharing it.
(3) Regional topics such as preservation that aren't readily available nationally. Dusty's regular postings on eastern concerns fill a void for us in the deep south.

Of the two, I rank the second of prime importance. I can study and digest all the information that I can lay my hands on, but I relish other's opinions. I've changed my own opinion more than once after these discussions. However, the research must come before the discussion. But I have been noticing that there have been more than a few topics / posts that (in my humble opinion) belong on one of the other boards.

[JimKindred]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Chris,

"What do people say..."A copy of a copy only gets worse."

A friend of mine who writes for Muzzleloader magazine came up with a jewel of a statement when others were copying his impression several years ago - "Reenact the history not the reenactor." Many times I think this holds true in Civil War reenacting, reenactors base their impression off another reenactor's impression rather than good solid research.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

"Reenact the history not the reenactor." .

GOLDEN! That is the best thing I have read in months.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Research a foreign concept?

Hallo Kameraden!

Indeed, it is far easier to be a "consumer of research" rather than a "producer..."
Especially in a Modern Age of "conspicuous consumption" where computers grow every faster (Who still has, or remembers, a PC with a speed of "40?"),
sound bytes come at one in 5, 10, 15, and 30 second shots, and McDonald's used to have a clock for the consumer to watch while being served... ;-)

While we provide information and share sources/resources here, we are rarely promoting "research" but rather engaging in "supplying ready information" for consumers of information to obtain it not through personal experience of examining artifacts and relics, documents and papers, in museums, archives, and private collections; or reading scholarly or even just informative/expository books about the same.

My personal dilemma here, is this. I struggle with the dynamics divided between "supplying information" to the best of my education, experience, and knowledge (which should always be checked and never blindly accepted as fact or history anyways...) so that more and more people can "do things better" and "do things right" in the short-term plus, maybe, develop that "research spirit" to do their own.
The other side of the coin, and the other dynamic, is that it is hard to know (and not automatically doubt) that the "asker of a question" is actually going to go the library or museum and answer his/her own question- and not just return to farbism and "doing things wrong" instead?
A tough one to balance.
Kind of like the old saying about "If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see all your problems as nails."
In this case paraphrased as "If your only research tool is asking questions, you can tend to see all your problems as easy answers." (Sort of the modern equivalent to the Biblical "Ask, and it shall be made known to ye.")

One additional point. Publishers publish books largely on their projection of how much return it will make on their investment- not necessarily on the wisdom or research of the author.
A key to any book, often lies in its resources and bibliography- as they allow us to review the same "reference" material and to determine, for ourselves- whether the author was correct in his opinions, inferences, and analysis or not.
And the same thing should be going on on the various Internet fora.

A double edged sword this...

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt