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Strategy of sociological research - Yadov V. Varieties of polls. Yadov V. A. “Sociological research: methodology

Yadov V.A.

Taken from http://www.socioline.ru

Yadov V.A. one

Sociological research: methodology program methods.. 1

2. THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL FACT.. 3

3. METHODOLOGY.. 9

4. METHODS, TECHNIQUES, PROCEDURES... 17

II. PROGRAM OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 22

1. PROBLEM, OBJECT AND SUBJECT OF STUDY .. 23

2. DETERMINATION OF THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH .. 27

5. ADVANCEMENT OF WORKING HYPOTHESES. 41

6. PRINCIPAL (STRATEGIC) RESEARCH PLAN.. 45

7. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SAMPLE.. 50

8. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROGRAM .. 57

III. PRIMARY MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS.. 63

1. CONSTRUCTION OF THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT - SCALE... 64

MEASUREMENT REFERENCE SEARCH.. 64

METHODS FOR CHECKING THE PRIMARY MEASUREMENT PROCEDURE FOR RELIABILITY. 66

2. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCALE .. 80

SIMPLE NOMINAL SCALE.. 81

PARTIALLY ORDERED SCALE.. 83

ORDAL SCALE.. 84

METRIC SCALE OF EQUAL INTERVALS.. 89

SCALE OF PROPORTIONAL EVALUATIONS.. 90

3. SEARCH FOR THE UNIVERSAL CONTINUUM IN GUTTMANN SCALES (ORDERED NOMINAL SCALE) 92

4. USING JUDGES TO SELECT ITEMS ON THE TERSTONE EQUAL INTERVAL SCALE.. 97

5. FOUR MOST IMPORTANT LIMITATIONS OF QUANTIFICATION OF PRIMARY SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS.. 100

IV. DATA COLLECTION METHODS.. 105

1. DIRECT OBSERVATION.. 105

2. DOCUMENTARY SOURCES.. 114

3. QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEW... 127

4. SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCEDURES ... 168

V. ANALYSIS OF EMPIRICAL DATA.. 183

1. GROUPING AND TYPOLOGIZATION .. 183

2. SEARCH FOR RELATIONS BETWEEN VARIABLES.. 191

3. SOCIAL EXPERIMENT - A METHOD OF VERIFICATION OF A SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS... 202

4. ANALYSIS OF DATA REPEATED AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES.. 213

5. SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS IN DATA ANALYSIS.. 219

VI. ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH.. 224

1. FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED RESEARCH.. 224

2. FEATURES OF THE METHODOLOGY AND STAGES OF DEVELOPING APPLIED RESEARCH.. 232

APPENDIX.. 242

PROFESSIONAL CODE OF A SOCIOLOGIST.. 242

2. THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL FACT

What is the factual basis of sociological knowledge, what does the concept of "social fact" mean?

Facts can be considered in the ontological (not dependent on consciousness) and logical-epistemological plans. In the ontological sense, facts are any states of reality that do not depend on the observer or events that have taken place. In the logical and epistemological terms, facts are justified knowledge, which is obtained by describing individual fragments of reality in a certain strictly defined space-time interval. These are the elementary components of the knowledge system.

The following can act as social facts: (a) the behavior of individuals or entire social communities, (b) products of human activity (material or spiritual), or (c) verbal actions of people (judgments, opinions, views, etc.).

In epistemological terms, social facts acquire meaning thanks to one or another system of concepts in which we describe fragments of social reality. Paradoxical as it may seem, a scientific fact is a certain result of the cognitive process, and not its beginning. Of course, this is a preliminary, intermediate result at the level of empirical generalization.

Let's consider this problem. Let us assume that the sociologist gives a "factual description" of the socio-political activity of workers industrial enterprise, using outwardly clearly visible signs of such activity, for example, speaking at a meeting, participating in various initiatives, etc. Summarizing the data obtained, our sociologist found that managers are most active, and low-skilled workers are the least active.

Is such a statement a "fact"? As if yes. If we delve deeper into these things, we will find that the reliability of this description is highly doubtful. Why? It is true that foremen and technologists of workshops spoke at meetings much more often, almost all of them are members of some kind of public organizations, many of them initiate useful undertakings. They are socially active. But after all, a certain level of social initiative is imputed to the duties of management personnel. What can you say about a director or foreman who keeps silent at meetings? - Bad leader. And it will be fair. What shall we say about the auxiliary worker, who only once spoke at the meeting with serious criticism and analysis of the organizational problems in the shop? Let's say: "active" worker. Nobody forced him to speak. It was not included in his production functions at all. Moreover, he could be afraid to do this, fearing "pressure" from his direct leader, whom he sharply criticized. So what, in factual descriptions of our sociologist, is reliable, and what is not reliable?

Separate events of social reality, as a rule, are elementary "particles" of the mass process. The task of the sociologist is to separate individual differences, which are systematic, from random ones, and thereby describe the stable properties of this process. For this, the apparatus of probabilistic statistics is used, the basis of which is the law of large numbers.

By definition B.C. Nemchinov, the law of large numbers is general principle, due to which the cumulative action a large number individual causes and conditions containing elements of a random nature, with some very general conditions leads to a result that is almost independent of chance ". Necessary prerequisites for the operation of this law: a sufficient number of observations and the independence of individual events from some common cause(in the sense of dynamic dependency).

Without dwelling on the special problems associated with the concept of randomness in social phenomena, we point out that the second prerequisite for the operation of the law is observed wherever we are dealing with the behavior of sufficiently large masses of individuals, if their actions are not strictly regulated, which excludes any possibility of personal initiative, those. individual evasion from a given program of action.

Therefore, along with the concept of "social fact" V.I. Lenin used the expression "statistical fact", which can be defined as typical summary numerical characteristics based on specially organized mass observation of social phenomena.

We now know that (a) social facts are abstractions in so far as they are descriptions of certain events in general concepts, and (b) that these are predominantly socio-statistical generalizations.

Therefore, the inclusion of factual knowledge in the system of science presupposes a certain conceptual scheme ("correlation system") in which we register observations of a set of events. How to choose a scientifically substantiated "correlation system" for describing elementary "pieces" of reality?

Let us turn to the well-known reasoning of V.I. Lenin about the dialectical definition of the concept, in contrast to the eclectic one. In a discussion on trade unions in 1921, he ridiculed the eclectic approach to defining an object, when he limited himself to enumerating its various attributes: the signs of a glass - a vessel for drinking and at the same time a glass cylinder. Objecting to this method of determination, V.I. Lenin said: “Dialectical logic demands that we go further. In order to really know an object, it is necessary to grasp, to study all its aspects, all connections and "mediations". We will never achieve this completely, but the demand for comprehensiveness will warn us against mistakes and from deadness. This is first. Secondly, dialectical logic requires that an object be taken in its development, "self-movement" (as Hegel sometimes says), change. In relation to the glass, this is not immediately clear, but the glass does not remain unchanged, and in particular the purpose of the glass changes, its use, connection him with the outside world. Thirdly, all human practice must enter into a complete "definition" of the subject both as a criterion of truth and as a practical determinant of the relationship of the subject with what a person needs. Fourth, dialectical logic teaches that "there is no abstract truth, truth is always concrete," as the late Plekhanov liked to say, following Hegel.

Let us try to translate these Leninist remarks into rules of procedure for social research.

Saying that comprehensiveness is needed as a requirement for objectivity, Lenin emphasizes that this comprehensiveness is practically unattainable. But the requirement of comprehensiveness is valuable because it emphasizes the relativity of truth, shows that we never obtain absolute knowledge in any study. We are acquiring some relative knowledge and we must clearly define the extent to which it is reliable and under what conditions it turns into unreliable knowledge.

Let's return to our example with the study of social activity. We already know that the concept of "activity" is specific not only in terms of the features that express it, but also in terms of the conditions of the worker's activity. Taken out of specific conditions, the signs of activity (the frequency of their manifestation) turn out to be incomparable. It is necessary to find in the research procedure such an indicator that would express precisely this relativity of the criteria of activity in relation to the specific positions and conditions in which the employees of the enterprise are placed.

As one of the possible indicators, we take the frequency of manifestations of signs of activity, the reciprocal of the probability of their occurrence. In other words, the more often a given property is found, the more "normal" it is, the less will be its relative importance, its "weight" for a given group of workers.

If the probability of speaking at the meeting p = a/n, where P- number of all observations, for example, all participants included in the analysis of meetings; a - the number of favorable observations (i.e. those cases when speeches were recorded), then the weight of the attribute "speak at the meeting" will be equal to l/r or p / a. If the probability of speaking at a meeting for all heads of departments of the plant approaches one, we can say that the usual norm of behavior takes place here. But, if the probability of a low-skilled worker speaking at the meeting is significantly lower, then the weight of this indicator increases sharply.

Since the weight of the feature "speaking at a meeting" for the entire mass of ordinary workers will be higher than for the entire mass of managerial personnel, the possession of such a feature clearly increases the overall "index of activity" for any given ordinary worker, but not for a given ordinary manager. But for managers, some other sign of activity will receive high weight, for example, independent adoption of responsible decisions and consistency in their implementation, the relative weight of which will turn out to be statistically more significant for this group of employees than the sign "speaking at a meeting."

The determination of such fairly stable "weights" of signs is possible on large populations of subjects. Then the probability values tend to stabilize (as do their reciprocal feature weights). And only then can they be used to assess the activity of individuals, collectively constituting a mass of units with a stable probability of such and such a behavior.

The second indication, which is contained in the quoted Lenin's words: "We must take the object in its development, "self-movement", take into account that the connection of the object with the surrounding world is changing."

The closest system of correlation in which it is necessary to consider the connection of an object with the surrounding world is specific social situation those. a set of general and specific life circumstances and social factors, in which we capture the observed events. "A concrete social situation is the result of a complex interaction of various elements social structure during this historical period.

The allocation of general and specific factors depends on the conditions that V.I. Lenin speaks in the third and fourth paragraphs of the quoted passage. From the point of view of the research procedure, significant general and specific factors of a particular situation are determined depending on the following criteria:

What is the practical or theoretical purpose of the study (what is the object being studied for)?

What is the subject of the study (what exactly in this object interests us from the point of view of the purpose of the study)?

What is the state of theoretical and practical knowledge that makes it possible to describe, generalize and explain the facts in a given situation?

Theory in this case accumulates previous practice. If, as V.I. Lenin, the definition includes all social practice, this means that there is some theory as a practically confirmed system of ideas about reality. In this sense, social practice enters into the determination of the connection in which certain phenomena should be taken.

It should be noted here that, of course, a separate event of special socio-historical significance can also act as a social fact. But everything that V.I. wrote about also fully applies to the description of such an event. Lenin. Such an event is, for example, the definition of the essence of Soviet trade unions, in a discussion about the nature of which V.I. Lenin cited the arguments discussed above.

However, there is still a very significant limitation: the selection of general and specific factors in a particular situation depends not only on the goal and subject of research, on the state of the theory, but also on the worldview of the researcher. When a sociologist writes that such and such a group of people is socially active, and such and such is passive, this statement expresses a certain civic position of the researcher.

The question arises: does sociological knowledge have factual certainty?

To understand this issue, let's divide it into two problems: one is the problem of the validity of a factual statement and the second is the problem of its truth.

The validity of a factual statement depends on the state of our knowledge and some criteria that serve as arguments indicating that such and such factual statements are legitimate.

Let's bring general scheme the sequence of operations necessary to establish substantiated sociological facts (Fig. 1).

The first level in this scheme is the general premise of the validity of factual knowledge. These are our fundamental ideas about the essence of social and natural reality, our worldview. If miscalculations, illusions, misconceptions are allowed at this level, then they will be "superimposed" on all subsequent research operations. The second level is the state and development of sociological theory. Here we mean the system of already achieved scientific knowledge about the objects of research, based on which and by comparing with new, still unsystematized observations (or data from other sciences), hypotheses are put forward regarding unexplored social phenomena and processes.

They form a conceptual "framework" in which individual events in specific social situations will be described. The condition for such a transition from existing theoretical concepts to empirical research is the empirical interpretation of concepts, which we will discuss in the next chapter.

The third level is procedural. This is a system of knowledge about research methods and techniques that provide reliable and stable factual information.

These three prerequisites form the main conditions for compiling a sound research program, which, in turn, determines the content and sequence of empirical procedures for collecting and processing factual data.

The final "product" of this activity - scientific facts - is introduced into sociological theory. In a rigidly targeted study, they enter the system of knowledge from which the initial hypotheses were extracted. Of course, on the basis of well-founded facts, their other theoretical interpretation is also possible. But then additional research will be required to check the reliability of the factual base, because it is extremely rare to give a truly complete and comprehensive description of the facts; some essential properties and connections of the observed phenomena from a different point of view will turn out to be less convincing or not covered at all.

It is also clear that the introduction of new scientific facts in one way or another modifies the theory of a given level, and changes in a number of special sociological theories lead to corresponding transformations into more high levels knowledge. Such is, as it were, the spiral path of development of any science. The initial stage of the study on any turn of the spiral is available system knowledge, and the final one - new system knowledge and the transition to the next round.

In this process of erecting the edifice of sociological science, facts play an enormous role, but they still remain "raw building material."

As for the truth of knowledge, although it is directly related to its validity, it still presents a special problem. Unlike validity, truth cannot be established by logical reasoning. The criterion of truth is the practical mastery of the subject.

The practice can be viewed in different aspects: both as a planned social experiment and as a socio-historical experience. The result of the practical development of an object can confirm or refute ideas about it. Our desire to have a complete proof of the truth "right away" is not feasible. When conducting research and in each individual case extracting some "piece" of reliable knowledge, it should be remembered that the future may partially refute our current ideas. So, in addition to the desire to obtain true knowledge, you need to be able to practically verify their compliance with reality.

In conclusion, let us briefly formulate what the concept of "social fact" is. It means that:

1) scientific description and generalization are subject to mass social events that relate to socially significant acts of individual or group, real and verbal behavior and to the products of people's activities. The significance of these acts is determined by the problem and purpose of the study, as well as the state of the theory, in terms of which we consider a particular social situation;

2) the generalization of mass events is carried out, as a rule, by statistical means, which does not deprive the status of social facts of individual events of special social significance;

3) the description and generalization of social phenomena is carried out in scientific terms, and if these are concepts of sociological knowledge, then the corresponding social facts can be called "sociological" facts.

METHODOLOGY

Methodology is a system of principles scientific research. It is the methodology that determines to what extent the collected facts can serve as a real and reliable basis for objective knowledge. “In the field of social phenomena,” wrote V.I. Lenin, “there is no method more common and more untenable than snatching individual facts, a game of examples, .. Facts, if you take them into their in general, in their communications, not only "stubborn", but certainly a demonstrative thing. Facts, if they are taken out of the whole, out of connection, if they are fragmentary and arbitrary, are just a toy or something even worse" [I, p. 350].

According to the positivist orientation, methodology is not concerned with the essence of knowledge about the real world, but rather deals with the operations by which knowledge is constructed. Therefore, the term "methodology" is used to denote a set of research procedures, techniques and methods, including techniques for collecting and processing data.

This concept of methodology contains undisguised philosophical nihilism, the origins of which were perfectly identified by V.I. Lenin. In "Materialism and Empiriocriticism" V.I. Lenin convincingly proved that the true causes of philosophical nihilism are dissatisfaction with "bad philosophy" that is incapable of explaining new scientific discoveries. Therefore, some natural scientists have declared disregard for any philosophy.

The same is happening now in bourgeois empirical sociology. "Since methodology in the philosophical sense has failed to answer many questions of practical importance to social researchers, social scientists are turning into methodologists of their own field of meaning," B. Holzner wrote in Dictionary of the Social Sciences.

The situation is no better when the sociologist elevates the "behavioral principle" to the rank of methodology. For example, the French sociologist Andre Touraine writes that sociology "is alien to the principle of philosophy - being determines consciousness, or the opposite - its object is social action" . But social actions (and Western sociologists use this term to refer to organized and socially conditioned forms of human activity in a certain way) are undoubtedly determined by specific social conditions, the deep essence of which is precisely revealed by the socio-philosophical understanding of the "relationship of facts", their place in the historical process.

The Marxist understanding of methodology proceeds from the fact that it implements the heuristic (i.e. search) function of the subject area of the theory. Any theoretical system of knowledge makes sense only insofar as it not only describes and explains a certain subject area, but at the same time is a tool for searching for new knowledge.

Since theory formulates principles and laws that reflect the objective world in its subject area, it also turns out to be a method of further penetration into the still unexplored spheres of reality on the basis of existing knowledge, verified by practice. "All science is applied logic," wrote Hegel. And this is a deep thought, noted by V.I. Lenin as an important epistemological principle.

A.P. Kupriyan distinguishes three main methodological functions of the theory: orienting, predictive and classifying. The first directs the efforts of the researcher in the selection of data, the second is based on the establishment of causal dependencies in some special area, and the third helps to systematize the facts by identifying their essential properties and relationships, i.e. not random.

If the methodology is meaningful, if it is an integral function of the theory, then, accordingly, several methodological levels can be distinguished in the structure of the theory itself.

The highest level - universal scientific methodology- expression of the heuristic function of dialectical materialistic philosophy, i.e. dialectical method. IN AND. Lenin emphasized that "the dialectical method - as opposed to the metaphysical one - Marx and Engels called nothing more than scientific method in sociology".

The dialectical approach is not attached to a specific sociological research. This is a system of principles that guides the sociologist in developing the program and procedures for research. Thus, dialectics asserts that the qualities or stable properties of an object (a social object in our case) are revealed as something preserved in the manifold relations of this object with others. From this follows the methodological principle, according to which certain research procedures should be provided in order to "capture" precisely the stable properties of an object.

How is this principle applied in practice? For example, in the study of the structure of motives labor activity we had to identify some stable motivational "core" and a kind of "periphery" of the motivational structure. Each historical epoch is characterized by its own, specific core of motives for labor activity. According to one of the possible classifications, we distinguish three main types of incentives: direct coercion ( lowest level incentives), economic stimulation (middle), moral, moral, ideological stimulation (highest). Various options combinations of these three types of stimuli in each this era constitute the main motivational core of labor activity.

The general dialectical rule in question prescribes such an order of actions in which the research must provide procedures that allow us to consider the general structure of labor motives in the variety of its manifestations.

It is possible to analyze the structure of labor activity motives in fundamentally different situations. We singled out three types of specific situations as the most significant. The first is a projective (imaginary situation) in which school graduates find themselves, deciding on the choice of their first profession. They evaluate the various advantages and disadvantages of the chosen specialty. The peculiarity of the projective situation is that the influence of specific production conditions is excluded here, people, as it were, are distracted from them. It is not labor motives as such that are revealed, but value orientations, so to speak, personally significant standards for assessing the content and conditions of labor activity.

The second type of situation is a real balanced one. There are young workers in it, assessing the positive and negative aspects of their real work. Here the motivational structure is revealed in the best option. It is influenced both by the content of labor and by the diverse concrete conditions of its organization, which stimulate or, on the contrary, restrain the activity of the worker.

The third type of situation is stressful or even conflict. In such a situation, there are workers who change their place of work, because for some reason it does not suit them. In this situation, a "threshold" is revealed, the ultimate boundary of the motivational core, beyond which such elements of motivation are found that make up the "periphery".

Comparing the data obtained during the survey of a sufficiently large population of workers in the three situations described (and the sample groups must be aligned according to essential features), we find that some motives for labor activity are constantly present in all three situations (the content of labor, the amount of earnings, the possibility of promotion work, the prestige of the profession), others are specific to only one or several situations. The first group, apparently, constitutes the motivational core, i.e. sustainable combination, which characterizes the attitude to work in its various states and connections in given social conditions (mid-60s).

The dialectical principle requires, further, to consider social processes in their development, change. It is impossible to absolutize the essential states of the attitude to work, fixed in certain social conditions, to extend them to other conditions, without finding out whether there are objective grounds for this. An analysis of the motivation of the attitude of workers to work, after 15 years, makes it possible to detect important changes in it, explained by changes in the integral way of life of workers.

This example shows how the general methodological requirement is implemented in the rules of procedure: to consider phenomena and processes in the variety of their connections and in dynamics, thus revealing their stable and changing properties.

So, in the hierarchy of heuristic principles of scientific knowledge, the top level belongs to the general scientific methodology, which expresses the logical-epistemological function of Marxist philosophy.

The next "floor" of the methodological pyramid is occupied by the methodologies of various fields of knowledge. Here we find and general methodology of sociological research, which implements the heuristic| function of general sociological theory.

Let us consider how this function operates in the development of a special sociological theory of personality.

Let's try to schematically express the main idea that follows from the materialistic understanding of the essence of man as a set of social relations (Fig. 2a).

If personality is the result social process, then the norms of her behavior and her social functions regarded as dictates imposed from outside. But whence "are" these prescriptions? Why are these and not other positions and roles imposed on individuals? This is explained by relations in the sphere of production, which socially fix one or another structure of the social division of labor, the structure of social positions.

The "choice" of role prescriptions in some social conditions for some social groups is very wide, while for others there is no "choice" at all. The standards according to which roles are internalized are also not set from somewhere, from the "nature" of a person as a biological being. They are basically social and cultural standards that have emerged as certain value orientations that are characteristic of entire social groups. These orientations, in turn, are nothing more than a reflection in the form of the needs and interests of people of their real social position, their real opportunities determined by the social structure and social relations .

It can, therefore, be said that general social conditions, while determining certain prescriptions, also predetermine the nature of the individual's perception of these prescriptions. Personality is both the subject and the object of the historical process, and as a subject it itself influences the historical process, changing and transforming it. But the basis of interaction in our scheme remains objective social relations.

Acting as applied logic, i.e. methodology of sociological research, general sociological theory (historical materialism performs its functions here) helps to find the fundamental structure and main lines of interconnections in the object under study. In order to move on to a purposeful empirical study of the object, the above schematic image must be at least hypothetically concretized into a more detailed special theory.

Now we are entering the area of the third level of methodology, which can be called the level of special methodology of sociological research.

A special (private) methodology is an expression of the search function of a special sociological theory, in our example, personality theories.

Let's try to expand the scheme in Fig. 2a, which was dictated by the requirements of socio-philosophical methodology, into a more detailed construction at the level of a special theory of personality.

Let us reveal those three elements that are in the very general view represent: general social conditions, personality as an object and personality as a subject. Let us consider how the connection "general social conditions of a person as an object" may look in a more detailed form (Fig. 2 b).

What are general social conditions? First of all, these are economic relations determined by the level of development of the productive forces. Further, depending on economic relations, there is the social structure of society - the division into classes, social strata, the consolidation of the social division of labor, due to the state of the productive forces of society - the basis of social relations.

Then - ideological relations as a component of general social conditions, as well as spiritual culture, accumulating the historically established traditions of a given society. The social structure and social division of labor are the main element that determines all social relations and relations in the sphere of ideology, for they determine the specific interests of various classes and social strata of society.

An important component of the general conditions is social institutions, including the socio-political structure, which are associated with both the social structure and ideological relations.

These most important components of general social conditions determine the specific social conditions of people's existence. Among the latter, first of all, it is necessary to single out the social position of individuals, i.e. belonging to a certain social group and place in the system of social positions (including position in the sphere of professional division of labor, and in the system of ethnic differentiation, marital status, position in the system of managing social processes, and so on), which are directly related to the nature and content of labor activity and the conditions of its life (working and living conditions). His social position, through working and living conditions, also includes his immediate social environment - social ties in which a person "learns" role-playing behavior.

But there are two more important individual characteristics - the sex and age of individuals, their stages life cycle. From this point of view, they also have a social equivalent and should be included in the scheme for the reason that to be a man or a woman, to be in a certain stage of the life cycle, means to perform various social functions.

The "personality-object" subsystem deployed in this way appears before us in a more detailed form, as a certain system of scientific concepts that reflect some essential properties. regulatory requirements presented by social communities to their members.

One should also try to expand the content of the "personality - subject" subsystem (Fig. 2c).

We will not comment on this whole scheme. Let's just note one point.

Considering the personality as a subject, we must first of all understand how social conditions (general and specific) affect the interests of the individual. Interests act as the main link between the real social position of the individual and the reflection of this position in the mind. Through social interest, feedback is carried out - from the subject to his social action: people act in pursuit of certain socially determined interests. At the same time, on the basis of a dynamic system of needs and previous experience, the subject forms certain and relatively stable readiness (dispositions) to perceive and act in various specific situations, and the formation of new needs, interests and dispositions stimulates creative, non-stereotypical behavior and forms of activity, "exit" beyond the rigid role prescriptions, possible only under the condition of developed self-awareness.

The latter, as I.S. Kon, there is an answer to the following three questions: "What can I do?", "What can I do?" and "What can I do?". The socially responsible choice of ways of behaving, the activities of the individual are now directed into real practice, and the cumulative actions of social subjects are the source of the transformation of their living conditions, the economic and social development of society. Thus, the circuit shown in Fig. 2a.

Summarize. The concept of "methodology" is a collective term that has various aspects. General scientific methodology as an expression of the heuristic function of Marxist philosophy is a method of searching for the most general approaches to the study of the subject. General sociological methodology, the function of which is performed by the philosophical-sociological theory of historical materialism, provides guidance on the fundamental foundations for the development of particular sociological theories in relation to their factual basis. The latter, in turn, contain special methodological functions, acting as an applied logic for the study of a given subject area.

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Yadov V.A. one

Sociological research: methodology program methods 1

Taken from http://www.socioline.ru 1

2. THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL FACT 3

3. METHODOLOGY 9

4. METHODS, TECHNIQUES, PROCEDURES 17

II. PROGRAM OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 22

1. PROBLEM, OBJECT AND SUBJECT OF STUDY 23

2. DEFINITION OF THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH 27

5. FORMULATION OF WORKING HYPOTHESES 40

6. PRINCIPAL (STRATEGIC) RESEARCH PLAN 45

7. PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR SAMPLE 50

8. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROGRAM 56

III. PRIMARY MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 62

1. CONSTRUCTION OF THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT - SCALE 63

MEASUREMENT REFERENCE SEARCH 63

METHODS TO CHECK THE PRIMARY MEASUREMENT PROCEDURE FOR RELIABILITY 65

2. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SCALES 78

SIMPLE NOMINAL SCALE 79

PARTIALLY ORDERED SCALE 81

ORIGINAL SCALE 82

METRIC EQUAL INTERVALS 87

PROPORTIONAL SCORE 88

3. SEARCH FOR THE UNIVERSAL CONTINUUM IN GUTTMANN SCALES (ORDERED NOMINAL SCALE) 90

4. USING JUDGES TO SELECT ITEMS ON THE THURSTONE EQUAL INTERVAL SCALE 95

5. FOUR ESSENTIAL LIMITATIONS OF QUANTIFICATION OF PRIMARY SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 98

IV. DATA COLLECTION METHODS 103

1. DIRECT OBSERVATION 103

2. DOCUMENTARY SOURCES 112

3. QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEW 124

4. SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCEDURES 165

V. ANALYSIS OF EMPIRICAL DATA 181

1. GROUPING AND TYPOLOGATION 181

2. SEARCH FOR RELATIONS BETWEEN VARIABLES 188

3. SOCIAL EXPERIMENT - A METHOD OF VERIFICATION OF A SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS 199

4. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA REPEATED AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES 210

5. SEQUENCE OF ACTIONS IN DATA ANALYSIS 216

VI. ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH 221

1. FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED RESEARCH 221

2. FEATURES OF THE METHODOLOGY AND STAGES OF DEVELOPING APPLIED RESEARCH 229

APPENDIX 239

PROFESSIONAL CODE OF SOCIOLOGY 239

2. The concept of social fact

What is the factual basis of sociological knowledge, what does the concept of "social fact" mean?

Let's consider this problem. Suppose that a sociologist gives a "factual description" of the socio-political activity of workers in an industrial enterprise, using externally well-recognized signs of such activity, for example, speaking at a meeting, participating in various initiatives, etc. Summarizing the data obtained, our sociologist found that managers are most active, and low-skilled workers are the least active.

By definition B.C. Nemchinov, the law of large numbers is “a general principle by virtue of which the cumulative action of a large number of individual causes and conditions containing elements of a random nature, under certain very general conditions, leads to a result that is almost independent of chance” . Necessary prerequisites for the operation of this law: a sufficient number of observations and the independence of individual events from some common cause (in the sense of dynamic dependence).

We now know that (a) social facts are abstractions insofar as they are descriptions of certain events in general terms, and (b) that they are predominantly socio-statistical generalizations.

Let us try to translate these Leninist remarks into rules of procedure for social research.

If the probability of speaking at the meeting p = a/n, where P- number of all observations, for example, all participants included in the analysis of meetings; a - the number of favorable observations (i.e. those cases when speeches were recorded), then the weight of the attribute "speak at the meeting" will be equal to l/R or p / a. If the probability of speaking at a meeting for all heads of departments of the plant approaches one, we can say that the usual norm of behavior takes place here. But, if the probability of a low-skilled worker speaking at the meeting is significantly lower, then the weight of this indicator increases sharply.

The closest system of correlation in which it is necessary to consider the connection of an object with the surrounding world is specific social situation those. a set of general and specific life circumstances and social factors in which we record the observed events. "A concrete social situation is the result of a complex interaction of various elements of the social structure in a given historical period."

What is the practical or theoretical purpose of the study (what is the object being studied for)?

What is the subject of the study (what exactly in this object interests us from the point of view of the purpose of the study)?

What is the state of theoretical and practical knowledge that makes it possible to describe, generalize and explain the facts in a given situation?

The question arises: does sociological knowledge have factual certainty?

To understand this issue, let's divide it into two problems: one is the problem of the validity of a factual statement and the second is the problem of its truth.

The validity of a factual statement depends on the state of our knowledge and some criteria that serve as arguments indicating that such and such factual statements are legitimate.

Let us give a general scheme of the sequence of operations necessary to establish substantiated sociological facts (Fig. 1).

The first level in this scheme is the general premise of the validity of factual knowledge. These are our fundamental ideas about the essence of social and natural reality, our worldview. If miscalculations, illusions, misconceptions are allowed at this level, then they will be "superimposed" on all subsequent research operations. The second level is the state and development of sociological theory. Here we have in mind the system of already achieved scientific knowledge about the objects of research, based on which and by comparing with new, still unsystematized observations (or data from other sciences), hypotheses are put forward regarding unexplored social phenomena and processes.

The third level is procedural. This is a system of knowledge about research methods and techniques that provide reliable and stable factual information.

It is also clear that the introduction of new scientific facts in one way or another modifies the theory of a given level, and changes in a number of special sociological theories lead to corresponding transformations in higher levels of knowledge. Such is, as it were, the spiral path of development of any science. The initial stage of research on any turn of the spiral is the existing systemic knowledge, and the final stage is new systemic knowledge and the transition to the next turn.

In this process of erecting the edifice of sociological science, facts play an enormous role, but they still remain "raw building material."

In conclusion, let us briefly formulate what the concept of "social fact" is. It means that:

1) scientific description and generalization are subject to mass social events that relate to socially significant acts of individual or group, real and verbal behavior and to the products of people's activities. The significance of these acts is determined by the problem and purpose of the study, as well as the state of the theory in terms of which we consider a specific social situation;

2) the generalization of mass events is carried out, as a rule, by statistical means, which does not deprive the status of social facts of individual events of special social significance;

As a citizen of a socialist society who has been given opportunities and conditions for conducting sociological research, the sociologist in his daily activities is guided primarily by the interests of the state. As a representative of Marxist-Leninist sociology, the sociologist adheres to the partisan principle of science, taking a clear class position in the analysis of social reality.
A sociologist has no moral right to abdicate responsibility for the economic, social, political, moral and psychological consequences of applying (putting into practice) the results he has obtained. This responsibility does not end even when the results obtained are presented, approved or accepted for implementation by state, public bodies, institutions and organizations that order research.

What is the factual basis of sociological knowledge, what does the concept of "social fact" mean?
Facts can be considered in the ontological (not dependent on consciousness) and logical-epistemological plans. In the ontological sense, facts are any states of reality that do not depend on the observer or events that have taken place. In the logical and epistemological terms, facts are justified knowledge, which is obtained by describing individual fragments of reality in a certain strictly defined space-time interval. These are the elementary components of the knowledge system.

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION
The concept of social fact
Methodology
Methods, technique, procedures
PROGRAM OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Problem, object and subject of research
Definition of the purpose and objectives of the study
Formulation of working hypotheses
Principal (strategic) research plan
Sampling Software Requirements
General requirements to the program
PRIMARY MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Designing a measurement standard - scales
Search for a measurement standard
Methods for checking the reliability of the primary measurement procedure
General characteristics of the scales
Simple nominal scale
Partially ordered scale
ordinal scale
Metric Equal Spacing Scale
Scale of proportional assessments
Finding a Unidirectional Continuum in Guttmann Scales (Ordered Nominal Scale)
Using Judges to Select Items on the Thurstone Equal Interval Scale
The Four Essential Limitations to Quantifying Primary Social Characteristics
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
direct observation
Documentary sources
Questionnaires and interviews
Some psychological procedures
ANALYSIS OF EMPIRICAL DATA
Grouping and typology
Finding Relationships Between Variables
Social experiment - a method of testing a scientific hypothesis
Analysis of data from repeated and comparative studies
Sequence of steps in data analysis
ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH
Features of the organization of theoretical and applied research
Features of the methodology and stages of the deployment of applied research
APPENDIX
Professional Code of the Sociologist

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Sociological research: methodology program methods

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