# Generalisation in Historiography and Historical Research Generalisation is an important concept in historiography and research methodology. It refers to the process of deriving broader statements, patterns, principles or conclusions from the study of particular facts, events, individuals, regions or historical situations. In historical research, the historian usually begins with specific evidence obtained from primary and secondary sources and attempts to identify relationships, similarities, differences and recurring patterns. On the basis of such analysis, broader interpretations about a society, period or historical process may be developed. Generalisation therefore connects individual historical facts with larger historical explanations. Historical knowledge is composed of numerous particular events. A historian may study a particular rebellion, a specific administrative policy, a particular social group or a single region. However, history as a discipline is not limited to merely listing such events. Historians seek to understand what these events reveal about wider social, political, economic and cultural processes. Generalisation makes this possible. For example, a study of several peasant movements in different parts of India may lead a historian to generalise about the economic and social causes of peasant resistance during a particular period. Such a generalisation is not simply a statement about one event but an attempt to identify a wider historical pattern. Generalisation must be distinguished from mere description. Description answers questions such as what happened, where it happened and when it happened. Generalisation goes further by asking whether similar developments occurred elsewhere and whether a common explanation can be identified. If a historian observes that several regions experienced agrarian unrest because of increased taxation, indebtedness and land revenue demands, the historian may formulate a generalisation concerning the relationship between colonial agrarian policies and