A third road to the past? Historical scholarship in the age of big data. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Franzosi, Roberto
• Is Part Of: Historical methods. Volume 50:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 227
• Page End: 244
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: Quantitative narrative analysis -- narrative history -- scientific/quantitative history -- natural language processing -- big data; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Onderzoeksmethoden; Electronic journals; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 300.5
• DOI: 10.1080/01615440.2017.1361879
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-5440

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Is a third passage to the past possible, beyond Elton's and Fogel's two roads of narrative history and scientific/quantitative history? One that would combine narrative history's focus on the event, on individuals and their actions, at a particular time and place, to scientific/quantitative history's emphasis on explicit behavioral models based on social-science theories? That is the question this article addresses. It illustrates a computer-assisted methodology for the study of narrative—quantitative narrative analysis (QNA)—that does just that. Based on the 5 Ws + H of narrative—Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How—QNA quantifies events without losing the event itself, without losing people behind numbers, diachronic time behind synchronic statistical coefficients. When used in conjunction with dynamic and interactive data visualization tools (and new natural language processing tools), QNA may provide a third unforeseen road to the past.