傳統上，歷史學家係為咗搵某個大問題嘅答案先去從事研究，而呢一種大問題通常同當時嘅人有密不可分嘅關係，呢一點令歷史學家同單純嘅好古癖係有分別。中國史嘅奠基者之一司馬遷就提出「究天人之際，通古今之變，成一家之言」作為史學嘅研究目標。歷史學者會為咗解決當下嘅政治改革弊病而去研究古代政治改革嘅成敗得失，而唔係毫無理由噉去研究一個同依家生活無關嘅議題。歷史學唔係為咗累積知識而累積知識；調返轉，佢係為咗某種特定嘅目的而進行有計畫嘅研究。但係，喺20世紀後期，隨住微觀史同文化史嘅興起，傳統嘅歷史觀受到挑戰。女權主義同酷兒理論等「後學」嘅新興學派批判咗傳統史學同社會統治精英嘅緊密聯繫，佢指出依家嘅研究方向係忽略咗邊緣人羣同底層社會。
Traditionally, historians have been engaged in research in order to find answers to a large question, and this kind of big question is often inextricably linked to the people of the time, which distinguishes the historian from the mere good antiquity. Sima Qian, one of the founders of Chinese history, proposed that "when studying heaven and man, the changes of the past and the present, become the words of a family" as the research goal of historiography. Historians will study the successes and failures of ancient political reforms in order to solve the shortcomings of today's political reforms, rather than studying an issue that has nothing to do with modern life for no reason. Historiography is not about accumulating knowledge for the sake of accumulating knowledge; However, in the late 20th century, with the rise of microhistory and cultural history, the traditional view of history was challenged. Emerging schools of "post-learning" such as feminism and queer theory have criticized the close ties between traditional historiography and the ruling elites of society, pointing out that the current direction of research ignores marginalized groups and underprivileges.