Covered In This Lesson: |
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In the last lesson we introduced you to the Research Planning Worksheet and the first entry in that plan which was a “Working Hypothesis”. This Working Hypothesis set out a statement that your subsequent research would either prove or disprove e.g. “Michael McLoughlin was born circa 1894 in Ireland”.
In this lesson you will set “research goals” to prove/disprove that working hypothesis. We look at using a “Research Planning Worksheet” as a tool to combine your working hypothesis, research goals and related research tasks moving forward.
I realise that you may have started this research journey with something like the following aspirational goal:
“I want to find the names, dates and places of birth of my immigrant ancestor’s parents.”
However, if you want to succeed with this aspiration, you need to break it down into “research goals” – each of which can be assigned a number of research tasks.
Don’t worry if this sounds like a lot of work at the moment, the purpose of this lesson is to familiarise you with the terms “research goals” in a genealogical setting and then use the principles behind them to increase your chance of making key discoveries as you proceed with your Irish ancestral research journey.
“Genealogists do it one step at a time”.
Let’s take the example of searching for the names, dates and places of birth for your immigrant ancestor’s parents. First, you might state this as the following aspirational target:
“I want to find the date and place of birth in Ireland for my earliest immigrant ancestor – Michael McLoughlin.”
You may have come up with a Working Hypothesis based on the information you have available to you e.g.:
“Michael McLoughlin was born in County Mayo, Ireland circa 1894”.
The Working Hypothesis above prompts a number of distinct Research Goals such as:
These are clearly defined goals that you can begin to work towards by dividing each into a series of record search objectives that will work towards finding out more about your Irish ancestor.
Once you have defined a research goal then you often need to sub-divide it into specific research objectives and sequence each objective in a logical order.
Let’s go back to our example. Your may wish to find the dates and places of birth of your immigrant ancestor.
You have already identified your first Research Goal – to Prove/Disprove that Michael was born around 1892-1894.
In this example these first two objectives are concentrated on discovering more documentary evidence about your immigrant ancestor’s life. This information may be important if you want to ensure that you are connecting to the correct Michael McLoughlin when you eventually make your way back to the Irish records.
I realise that this may sound like a lot of extra work, but clearly defined research objectives will:
Once you have decided on your Research Goals and Objectives, next you can capture Research tasks in a Research Plan using our Research Planning Worksheet (see end of this lesson).
A Research Plan will include a list of research tasks you intend to carry out and the order in which you intend to undertake the tasks. Depending on how you work best, a research plan can be as simple as a short bullet point list on the back of an envelope, a mind map, a complex spreadsheet – or something following the template we supply in the Research Planning Worksheet – available for you to download at the end of this lesson.
Let’s Take an Example: |
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Let’s look at a simple scenario:
Your immediate thought is that finding the death certificate in this State will give you the names of your ancestor’s parents and a definitive age and possibly more useful information as well. Here is a list of search tasks that you may have brainstormed on a sheet of paper:
You have already stated your Working Hypothesis and Research Objectives – but this is the beginning of the practical side of your research plan. You may want to add some additional tasks such as cross-comparing information between different record sources – especially if there is no obituary for your ancestor but there are obituaries for other people with the same name as your ancestor. If you identify these individuals in the death indexes you may reduce the number of death certificates you need to inspect closely from 6 to 2. When you draw up and work through your Research Plan, you will tick off your items as completed and make notes in your research log (included in the appendix of your Research Planning worksheet) about the information you have found. You may revise and alter your research plan in light of additional information. |
Before you dive into executing your research plan, one essential additional step is to establish if it is actually possible to achieve your research goal! It will also ultimately save time and potential disappointment.
For example:
This, in turn, will help you decide what your individual research questions might look like and save you time looking somewhere you are not likely to find the information you want.
As mentioned before, Genealogists do it one step at a time.
You are the person in charge. State your Working Hypothesis and devise related research goals. Work smart. Start with smaller, single goals that are much easier to achieve. Over time you may revise and extend your goals if you wish. This way you are more likely to avoid a dreaded brick wall!
Remember, we are with you each step of the way. You will find a Research Planning Worksheet to download for your use below – and be sure to share your approach, discoveries and questions in the Ask The Genealogist section of the forum as you progress.
Action Plan For This Lesson: |
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In the next lesson we move on to the next stage of your Research Planning – Devising a strategy to search available record collections.
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