Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION AND PERSPECTIVE
- PART II OVERVIEW OF APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF EXPERTISE – BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF THEORIES AND METHODS
- PART III METHODS FOR STUDYING THE STRUCTURE OF EXPERTISE
- PART IV METHODS FOR STUDYING THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF EXPERTISE
- 15 Laboratory Studies of Training, Skill Acquisition, and Retention of Performance
- 16 Retrospective Interviews in the Study of Expertise and Expert Performance
- 17 Time Budgets, Diaries, and Analyses of Concurrent Practice Activities
- 18 Historiometric Methods
- PART V DOMAINS OF EXPERTISE
- PART VI GENERALIZABLE MECHANISMS MEDIATING EXPERTISE AND GENERAL ISSUES
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
18 - Historiometric Methods
from PART IV - METHODS FOR STUDYING THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF EXPERTISE
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- PART I INTRODUCTION AND PERSPECTIVE
- PART II OVERVIEW OF APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF EXPERTISE – BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF THEORIES AND METHODS
- PART III METHODS FOR STUDYING THE STRUCTURE OF EXPERTISE
- PART IV METHODS FOR STUDYING THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF EXPERTISE
- 15 Laboratory Studies of Training, Skill Acquisition, and Retention of Performance
- 16 Retrospective Interviews in the Study of Expertise and Expert Performance
- 17 Time Budgets, Diaries, and Analyses of Concurrent Practice Activities
- 18 Historiometric Methods
- PART V DOMAINS OF EXPERTISE
- PART VI GENERALIZABLE MECHANISMS MEDIATING EXPERTISE AND GENERAL ISSUES
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
Historiometric Methods
Of the many methods applicable to the scientific study of expertise and expert performance, historiometrics is perhaps the least well known and least frequently used. Therefore, before I can discuss the technique any further, it must first be defined. According to one monograph devoted specifically to the subject, “historiometrics is a scientific discipline in which nomothetic hypotheses about human behavior are tested by applying quantitative analyses to data concerning historical individuals” (Simonton, 1990, p. 3). This definition contains three central concepts:
1. Historical individuals are persons who have “made a name for themselves” or who have “left a mark on history” by some superlative achievement. Possibilities include recipients of the Nobel Prize, politicians elected President of the United States, world chess champions, and athletes who have won medals in the Olympics. It is this feature of historiometrics that makes it ideally suited for the study of expert performance. After all, such accomplishments are presumed to require a high degree of expertise, and when expert performance attains world-class levels in many domains, the result will be awards, honors, and other forms of recognition. Of course, the adjective “historical” actually assumes an underlying dimension that is quantitative rather than qualitative (Simonton, 1990). An athlete who wins a gold medal in the Olympics represents a higher degree of achievement than one who is a national champion, just as the national champion represents a degree above an athlete with even more local eminence.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance , pp. 319 - 336Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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