Социология: 4М. № 40

Sociology: methodology, methods, mathematical modeling

No. 40, 2015

Contents

Theory and history of methods

Tolstova Yu. N. The development of methodological culture of Russian sociology in the second half of the XXth century: the role of Vladimir Yadov

The article describes the numerous contributions of Vladimir Yadov (1929-2015) to the formation of methodological traditions of contemporary Russian sociology. The author characterizes V.A.Yadov’s personality traits that influenced the specificity of his relation to the theory, methodology and empirical knowledge and their relative roles in the process of sociological research. His key works such as “A Man and His Work”, “Self-regulation and prediction of social behavior of the person” are considered as examples of sociological studies that consistently implemented the principles set forth in his “Strategy of sociological research” (the work has become a sort of “catechism” for Russian sociologists). We also analyze V.A.Yadov’s approach to the implementation of specific sociological projects, and their methodological potential. V.A.Yadov’s role in organizing of contemporary Russian sociology as an independent discipline is also described, in particular, his contribution to the emergence of the only Russian journal on sociological methods and methodology.

Keywords: methodological culture, the history of sociological methodology, methodology of sociological research

Practices of collecting and analyzing formalized data

Gruzdev I. A., Terentev E. A. А Use of Standardized Interview in a Work Time Budget Research: A Methodical Reflection on the Example of the Faculty and Researchers Survey

This paper discusses the range of problems, which arise in standardized interviews on time budget evaluations of academics. Authors present some methodological reflections, which were made in the course of policy-oriented study on work time budgets of faculty and researchers. The study was conducted in one of the leading universities in Moscow. The analysis is carried out on the material of 21 interviews. As a result some conclusions about the possible sources of errors in the estimates of time spent on various types of workload were made. Three common strategies of recalling that respondents used to retrospectively assess the time spent on a particular task were described: (1) typical day/week, (2) comparative evaluation, and (3) the strategy of reference points. It is shown that the use of different strategies significantly impact on the academics’ estimates. Authors also examined the biases concerning the subjective character of the respondents’ estimates, concerned with the subjectivization of estimates, substitution of real estimates by normative, and double counting. In conclusion several practical recommendations, which can be taken into account in further studies on work time budgets of academic professional, are presented.

Keywords: time budget, standardized interview, diary methods, data validity, strategies of recalling

Online research methods

Davydov S. G., Iskra I. S., Ketov S. V., Kleimenov I. I. Appreciation Panel System for telecast evaluation in Russia: the experience of implementation

The article deals with the global experience of the assessment of media content, and describes key approaches to relevant empirical studies. Projects of Dutch company GfK-Intomart – as a pioneer of online evaluation of content quality of electronic media – are analyzed. We present proofs of validity of a research technique named "TV Compass" which has been implemented in Russia by the International Institute for Marketing and Social Research GfK-Russia on request of CTC Media. We also analyze the main uses of the research results obtained in the TV channels’ work

Keywords: online panel, appreciation surveys, media content assessment, media content management

Methodological Problems of Sociological Theory

Romanovsky N. V. About “growing points” in modern theoretical sociology

The article describes the variants of methodology of “growing points” search in modern theoretical sociology and oncoming changes in the fundamentals of theoretical sociology that will open a new stage in the history of sociology. We analyze a number of potentially important changes that happened recently and define the most perspective ones that are related to a) a new level of penetration into the problems of action / interaction of people, b) a new understanding of the role and function of social science, that potentially goes beyond the “Methodenstreit”of the late XIX century, 3) the integration of new civilization approaches into the sociological theorizing made by sociologists from China, India and other countries. We also indicate areas of search that, in our opinion, may lead to a dead end.

Keywords: contemporary sociology, theoretical sociology, growing points, sociology of life, postcolonial sociology life

Kozhanov A. A. Methodology of theoretical research programs: comparative advantages for an analysis of scientific knowledge dynamics

The paper discusses some issues of selection, comparison and evaluation of relevant methodology for scientific knowledge dynamics analysis. Postpositivist metatheoretical discourse within sociological theory has been predominantly concerned with contrasting approaches to science studies developed by Kuhn and Lakatos with some sociological projects (Mullins, Bloor, Foucault). "Theoretical research programs" methodology suggested by Berger, Zelditch and Wagner provides us with many benefits and advanced features which can be demonstrated when applied to a history of sociology of science. "Theoretical research programs" methodology responds to questions of theory evaluation, illuminates the ways the theories can be clustered, describes social and rational aspects of their development, and reveals indicators of theory progress.

Keywords: theoretical research program, sociology of science, paradigm, J. Berger, M. Zelditch, D. Wagner, metatheory