Historical comparisons: Testing psychological hypotheses with cross‐era data (1)

Cross‐era research, an approach which involves developing and testing social science hypotheses in terms of historical time‐series data, is first discussed as regards its relationship to other comparative research approaches. Some examples of cross‐era research in psychology are described. Special problems that arise in cross‐era research, and proposed methods of coping with them, are discussed as regards each of the three successive phases of research: creative hypothesis formation problems; difficulties that arise in the hypothesis‐testing phase; and problems that emerge during the phase of communicating and utilizing the findings.