This essay is a reflexive assessment of the authors’ research experiences crossing
from sociology to history and back for her Ph.D. dissertation on criminality
using old archival documents. It highlights the differences in the methodological
approaches and data collection practices between the two disciplines, from
notions of sampling to the regard of what constitutes authoritative sources data.
More importantly, it recognizes the common quest of historical sociology and
social history to draw intellectual inspiration and fresh research impetus from
the orientations and techniques from one another’s discipline. Finally, the piece
narrates her post-dissertation work on the history of knowledge production on
criminality in the Philippines, a project that necessitated the historical grounding
of biographies, social scientific knowledge, and of research itself.