MENIACA SA MINULOSŤ SLOVENSKA – STABILITA A ZMENY VEREJNEJ MIENKY PRI HODNOTENÍ HISTÓRIE

Since 1968, when the Prague Institute for Public Opinion Research under the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences made its first research on the perception of history in the whole Czechoslovakia, in Slovakia, there have been a large number of similar researches on a representative sample of Slovak population. Very diverse results require careful interpretation of research results, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the methodology of questioning is apparently important. When using open questions, respondents tend to choose a period of time, which is closer to them, more or less related to their personal experience. When using closed questions, that contain a set of stimuli selected from various historical events or periods, a too large variedness of such lists turned out to be a fundamental problem of interpretation, because it decreases the possibility of precise comparison. Secondly, problems with the interpretation of results from several researches are due to different wording of questions, because they measure the same phenomenon only seemingly. A more detailed look on methodology indicates that seemingly comparable methods are in fact asking different questions. Despite different difficulties with the research of changes in opinion on history, a strong and continuing positive judgment of some historic events has turned out.