Diversifying History

This study explores associations between changing researcher demographics and research questions asked in the field of history. Specifically, we analyze developments in the discipline of history as women entered the field. We focus on gender in diachronic analysis of history dissertations from 1980 (when online data is first available) to 2015 and a select set of general history journals from 1950 to 2015. We use correlated topic modeling and network visualizations to map developments in research agendas over time and to examine how women and men have contributed to these developments. This quantitative, longitudinal study of history suggests a symbiotic relationship between the numbers of women entering the field and the emergence of new research questions in the field.

本研究旨在探讨历史研究领域中研究者人口统计学特征的变迁与所提出的研究问题之间的关联。具体而言，我们分析了女性进入该领域后历史学科的发展。我们聚焦于从1980年（在线数据首次可用之时）至2015年的历史学学位论文的历时性分析，以及1950年至2015年选定的一组通史期刊。通过相关主题建模和网络可视化，我们绘制了研究议程随时间的发展轨迹，并探讨了女性与男性在推动这些发展中的贡献。这一历史学领域的定量纵向研究揭示了女性进入该领域的人数与该领域新兴研究问题之间存在的共生关系。