here’s a thought:
if you go back several generations when the girl primarily stayed home, it may have been hard to “research” her and find out about her middos, etc. The best and most tzanua way would be to investigate the people closest to her, who were more out in the open and easier to get to know- i.e. her father, who obviously would be a big influence on her and how she was raised, and her brothers, who since they were raised in the same home that she was, would reflect her values and middos. Think of it as shidduch research by proxy. And since her father was probably the only male influence she had, whether he was or was not a talmid chachom would have a lot to do with whether she was prepared to/wanted to marry a talmid chachom.
Now that girls are educated outside the home, and spend more time with people outside their family, it is not a given that she will be the same as her brothers and fathers, or that they are her most important influence. But because of that, it is easier to investigate her directly.
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