大数据、新史实与理论演进——以学籍卡材料的史料价值与研究方法为中心的讨论

Recent Advances in Big Data,New Historical Facts and Social Theory: A Discussion Based on the New Research Using University Student Records

学籍卡片是近现代教育界广泛存在的系统性材料。囿于传统研究方法,历史学者对此类大规模、系统性材料的利用、开放并不充分。随着社会科学化的大数据分析与研究模式的兴起,学籍卡似的格式化、系统性历史文献成为构建大型计量历史数据库的重要资源。依靠定量分析,这些计量历史数据库往往能向学者展现出依靠传统文献分析方法难以显现的"新史实"。这些"新史实"不仅对填补或纠正过往的历史认知颇有裨益,甚至还能有效地推动学术理论的演进与革新。学籍卡数据库的构建和定量研究便是很好的例证。作为掌握史料最丰富的历史学者,应该充分重视这种社会科学化研究方法带来的契机,推动历史研究的发展。

Student academic records are a universal source of systematic social information. However,since these materials are not a commonly recognized historical source,few historians have taken advantage of such records.Nevertheless,the rises of Quantitative Social Scientific History( QUASSH) and big social scientific data have lead to the discovery of such important sources of historical information. Moreover,recent collections and analyses of such data are uncovering important new historical facts not well documented in traditional historical sources. Historians should take advantage of the abundance of such information in the Chinese historical record and the scholarship of discovery produced by social scientific history to advance the field of historical research.