History for What?

Abstract

Having defined the subject matter of the domain, the essential next step is to consider the important questions relative to that subject matter. These questions, in the broadest sense, are equivalent to asking why one wants to study historical data in the first place, that is, defining the problem area. Before any research can be done, some questions must be posed; these are critical. What do we ask of the evidence, in this case of past built environments? To obtain answers one must know what questions to ask; to do that one must have clear, hence explicit reasons for studying the evidence. Having defined the subject matter one needs to discuss what questions, in principle, are to be asked of that subject matter. This is particularly the case because the point is made that in research specific results are often of less importance than how the formulation of a new kind of question led to those results (Goodfield in Ayala and Dobzhanski 1974, p. 82).