How to analyze a social studies document. §2. Types of documents used in a social studies course. sociologist-provoked documents

In order to determine to what extent the use of training technologies in the educational process at school meets the needs of modern education, as well as the goals pursued by studying a social studies course in the 8th grade, it is necessary to analyze those regulations and documents, as well as existing educational and methodological complexes in social studies for 8th grade, which are used by the teacher in his work. This is necessary in order to understand whether training technologies can help achieve the goals that are inherent in studying the social studies course in the 8th grade. If they can, then how and what areas in the study of social science, namely the area related to the study of the social sphere, would be most effectively revealed through the introduction of training technologies into the learning process. At the same time, it is necessary to separately analyze the existing versions of educational and methodological complexes in social studies for the 8th grade in order to determine in which of them the section relating to the social sphere, on the one hand, is revealed in the most detailed way, and, on the other hand, to identify those educational -methodological materials (thematic planning, textbooks, workbooks), which are most suitable for combining them with training technologies, which would be carried out in the form of group work of students in the classroom.

We propose to build an analysis of all documents and sources based on two key questions: how they reveal the work in the group, and also how the section concerning social relations is presented.

First of all, when analyzing the legal acts regulating the activities of a social studies teacher in the 8th grade, it is necessary to analyze

Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as the Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”) from the point of view of those issues that we highlighted earlier. The first thing you should pay attention to are those principles of state policy and legal regulation of relations in the field of education, on which the entire educational system should be built, namely one of the principles, which is formulated as follows: “the humanistic nature of education, the priority of life and health human rights and freedoms of the individual, free development of the individual, education of mutual respect, hard work, citizenship, patriotism, responsibility, legal culture, respect for nature and the environment, rational use of natural resources.” Thus, in the Law “On Education in the Russian

Federation”, an indication is given that educational policy and educational programs should be built taking into account the formation of patriotism and the recognition of human rights and freedoms, which, in our opinion, can be realized to the greatest extent precisely if group work technologies are used, since it is precisely with this This approach most clearly reveals the possibilities for developing cooperation between students, developing their respect for the position of another person, the ability to work in a team and feel like part of a single team, which again directly correlates with the need to instill patriotism and active citizenship. Separately, we draw attention to the fact that the Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” assumes the possibility of conducting experimental activities in the field of education: “experimental and innovative activities in the field of education are carried out in order to ensure the modernization and development of the education system, taking into account the main directions of socio-economic development Russian Federation...", "experimental activities are aimed at developing, testing and introducing new educational technologies, educational resources and are carried out in the form of experiments...", "innovative activities are focused on improving scientific, pedagogical, educational and methodological... support of the education system...". Let us draw attention to the fact that the introduction of training technologies could well be carried out from the point of view of their innovative component, since training technologies themselves in many cases offer new forms of group work for students, and are also quite consistent with the principles of state policy in the field of education , which are the main ones in determining the forms and methods of educational work. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” directly states that “when implementing educational programs, various educational technologies are used...”, which fully implies the possibility of using group technologies for organizing training, including and with the help of training technologies, which in themselves actually represent a form of group work. Thus, having analyzed the Law “On Education in the Russian Federation”, we can conclude that the principles and approaches laid down in this legal act can be practically implemented through the organization of educational activities in the form of group work, including through trainings.

Then, from the positions we indicated earlier, we will analyze the Federal State Standard of Basic General Education1 (hereinafter referred to as the Standard). First of all, let us draw attention to the fact that the Standard, as one of the main normative and legal acts that should guide a teacher in his work, is aimed at ensuring “spiritual and moral development, education of students and preservation of their health...”, which is quite consistent with those forms of organizing group activities, namely training forms that we offer for use in educational work. In addition, the Standard specifically points out the need to instill citizenship in students, which, in our opinion, is best revealed in the course of studying the social sphere of society, especially when using group forms of work during training, which allow organizing direct interaction between students, which, if properly organized, has a very effective effect on the quality of learning educational material. The Standard is based on a system-activity approach, which, in turn, ensures “active educational and cognitive activity of students”, as well as “construction of educational activities taking into account the individual age, psychological and physiological characteristics of students.” At the same time, let us note that when using group learning technologies when studying a social studies course in the eighth grade, “the creation of a social situation for the development of students occurs, ensuring their social self-identification through personally significant activities.” If we talk about the system-activity approach, which is also discussed in this Standard, then it, in turn, also involves “the formation of readiness for self-development and continuous education.” This provision, in our opinion, can be quite effectively revealed from the point of view of the fact that group work technologies have the opportunity to form those skills and competencies that can be applied and used by students in the future, including from the point of view of their lifelong learning, education and development. At the same time, let us pay attention to the fact that the Standard separately formulates those personal characteristics of a graduate that he must possess as a result of mastering the educational program of a basic school. The student must be aware of and accept the traditional values ​​of the family, Russian civil society, the Russian people and humanity as a whole, in addition, the student must feel involved in the fate of the Fatherland. It is stated that the student must be “respectful of other people, able to conduct constructive dialogue, achieve mutual understanding, and cooperate to achieve common results.” All of the listed positions may well be implemented in the most effective way, taking into account the use of group technologies and, above all, within the framework of studying a social studies course in the eighth grade, which contains material related to the study of social relations and the social sphere, the development of interpersonal relationships and cooperation between people.

Separately, we should dwell on the results of mastering the main educational program, which are laid down in this Standard. They are divided by the authors into personal, meta-subject and subject.

Personal results in the most general terms, naturally, given that the teacher in one way or another touches on the formation of each of them as part of the study of social studies in the eighth grade, presupposes “the formation of a conscious, respectful and friendly attitude towards another person, his opinion, worldview, culture, language , faith, civic position, history, culture, religion, traditions, languages, values ​​of the peoples of Russia and the peoples of the world; readiness and ability to conduct dialogue with other people and achieve mutual understanding in it”, “mastering social norms, rules of behavior, roles and forms of social life in groups and communities, including adults and social communities”, as well as “formation of communicative competence in communication and cooperation with peers, older and younger children, adults in the process of educational, socially useful, educational and research, creative and other types of activities.” These results, in our opinion, are one of the key ones in the study of sections relating to the social sphere as part of the study of the social studies course in general, and in the social studies course in the eighth grade in particular, since they are directly affected at all levels of study in the social studies course and in fact laid down in its basis as basic ones. Let us also draw attention to the fact that the effective achievement of these learning outcomes can be achieved through the use of group forms of work, since cooperation and forms of interaction used in the organization of group activities are very effective in terms of the development of social relations between students and the formation of their skills social communication in general.

The meta-subject results laid down in the Standard are aimed at mastering such concepts and universal educational actions (regulatory, cognitive and communicative), which, in fact, are encountered in the course of studying any subject of the school curriculum, including social studies. Let us pay attention to the fact that meta-subject results presuppose “the ability to organize educational cooperation and joint activities with the teacher and peers; work individually and in a group: find a common solution and resolve conflicts based on coordinating positions and taking into account interests; formulate, argue and defend one’s opinion,” which is again studied most widely in the social studies course in the 8th grade. Meta-subject results, in accordance with the Standard, assume that the student “independently determine the goals of his learning, set and formulate new tasks for himself in learning and cognitive activity, develop the motives and interests of his cognitive activity,” which can be quite effectively formed during the use of training technologies that require significant independence of students in forming the goals of their activities and organizing a strategy to achieve these goals during group interaction. Let us note that the study of the specifics of social conflicts is one of the main sections in the social studies course in the eighth grade, and the formation of skills to communicate productively during teamwork can be very effectively carried out precisely through the use of group educational technologies and trainings as one of their varieties.

Next, we will briefly list those meta-subject universal educational actions laid down in the Standard, which can be largely formed during the study of a social studies course in the eighth grade, taking into account the use of group forms of organizing educational work: “independently determine the goals of your learning, set and formulate new ones for yourself tasks in learning and cognitive activity”, “the ability to correlate one’s actions with the planned results, to monitor one’s activities in the process of achieving results, to determine methods of action within the framework of the proposed conditions and requirements, to adjust one’s actions in accordance with the changing situation”, “the ability to evaluate the correctness performing a learning task, one’s own capabilities for solving it”, “possession of the basics of self-control, self-esteem, decision-making and making informed choices in educational and cognitive activities”, as well as “the ability to consciously use speech means in accordance with the communication task to express one’s feelings, thoughts and needs." Thus, a significant part of the meta-subject results listed in the Standard can be formed directly during the study of a social studies course in the eighth grade, since this course involves the study of issues related to social relations that are directly underlying the meta-subject results listed above.

Next, you need to turn to those substantive results of mastering the basic educational program of basic general education, which are listed in the standard. Subject results represent those results that must be achieved during the study of a particular school subject, are specific to a given subject area and include “skills mastered by students in the course of studying a subject area, specific to a given subject area, types of activities to obtain new knowledge within educational subject, its transformation and application in educational, educational-project and social-project situations, the formation of a scientific type of thinking, scientific ideas about key theories, types and types of relationships, mastery of scientific terminology, key concepts, methods and techniques.” In this case, subject results are combined into certain subject areas with subjects close to each other. For each of these subject areas, results specific to that area are listed. The social studies course is included in the subject area “Social scientific subjects”, the study of which should provide: “understanding of the basic principles of social life, the role of the environment as an important factor in the formation of personality traits, its socialization”, “awareness of one’s role in a holistic, diverse and rapidly changing global world,” as well as “the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and experience in its application for adequate orientation in the world around us, developing ways of adaptation in it, and forming one’s own active position in public life when solving problems in the field of social relations.” These requirements can be implemented, among other things, through the use of group technologies during the study of a social studies course in the eighth grade. Of course, the requirements listed above are quite broad and multifaceted, however, let us note that they can be laid down for the most part precisely in the process of studying a social studies course. Among the subject requirements for the subject “Social Studies”, we highlight those that, in our opinion, can be formed to the greatest extent during the study of issues related to social relations in the social studies course in the eighth grade. First of all, it is worth highlighting “understanding of the basic principles of social life, the foundations of modern scientific theories of social development”, “the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and experience in applying acquired knowledge and skills to determine one’s own active position in public life, to solve typical problems in the field of social relations that are age-appropriate students, interpersonal relationships, including relationships between people of different nationalities and religions, ages and social groups”, “formation of the foundations of legal consciousness for correlating one’s own behavior and the actions of other people with the moral values ​​and norms of behavior established by the legislation of the Russian Federation, the conviction of the need to protect the rule of law with legal ways and means, the ability to implement basic social roles within the limits of one’s legal capacity”, “mastering techniques for working with socially significant information, understanding it; development of students’ abilities to draw the necessary conclusions and give reasonable assessments of social events and processes,” as well as “development of social horizons and the formation of cognitive interest in the study of social disciplines.” These training requirements, in our opinion, can be most effectively implemented through the direct use of group technologies as part of the organization of educational work. In addition, let us draw attention to the fact that the requirements laid down in the Standard themselves actually imply the use of group technologies for interaction between students during the study of a social studies course, including in the eighth grade, since it is as a result of the use of group technologies that these requirements can be implemented with the highest quality.

Separately, let us draw attention to the fact that the Federal State Educational Standard of Secondary General Education5, namely the action of the Federal State Educational Standard of Secondary General Education”, the results listed in it for student preparation, are in fact completely consistent with the Standard that we analyzed earlier, somewhat adapting the results subject preparation taking into account the age characteristics of students. The course "Social Studies" is included in the subject area

“Social sciences”, which presupposes such substantive results as “the formation of the ideological, value-semantic sphere; ... understanding the role of Russia in a diverse, rapidly changing global world; well-formed...ability to evaluate and compare research methods characteristic of the social sciences; formation of a holistic perception of the entire spectrum... of social realities.”

“the basic educational program of basic general education of an institution that has state accreditation is being developed.” At the same time, we note that the Model Basic Program reveals those sections that should be contained in the Basic Educational Program of an educational institution. These sections include: target, content and organizational sections. The purpose of implementing the basic educational program of basic general education is to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of Basic General Education4. At the same time, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve a number of tasks, among which, for example, there are such tasks as “ensuring an effective combination of classroom and extracurricular forms of organizing the educational process, interaction of all its participants,” as well as “identifying and developing students' abilities..." and "social design...". Let us note that these problems can be solved in a very effective way with the help of group forms of student interaction during classes, and the classes themselves, conducted in the form of group work or trainings, can also be conducted in the form of extracurricular activities. Perhaps the introduction of training forms of work as extracurricular forms of work, taking into account the age characteristics of eighth-graders, is most appropriate precisely from the point of view of an effective combination of classroom and non-classroom forms of organizing the educational process. It is most likely possible, in our opinion, to determine this directly in practice. The approach laid down in the Model Basic Program makes it possible to make the most widespread use of group forms of organizing educational activities, including in the form of trainings, which themselves are largely focused precisely on the systematic nature of the entire educational process and the active activity of the students themselves in the learning process. It is important to take into account the age characteristics of students, and the main educational program should be formed with mandatory consideration of the age characteristics of children. In particular, the age period of 14-15 years, corresponding to grades 8-9, is designated in the Model Basic Program as the “Second Stage of Adolescent Development” and is characterized by a number of very significant features, including “the rapid, spasmodic nature of development; the teenager’s desire to communicate and collaborate with peers; special sensitivity to the moral and ethical “code of partnership”; the process of transition from childhood to adulthood; heightened, due to the emergence of a sense of adulthood, susceptibility to the assimilation of norms, values ​​and ways of behavior; complex behavioral manifestations; changes in the social situation of development.” It is important that the teacher choose those forms of work that would most qualitatively contribute to the assimilation of the curriculum and would most fully correspond to the age characteristics of the students. In addition, 8th grade is a period during which the basic ways of interaction of the student with others continue to form, the students’ personalities are formed and a complex process of realizing oneself as an individual, searching for oneself and forming an attitude towards oneself as a unique, self-sufficient person in terms of one’s qualities takes place. . In addition, the 8th grade is a period during which the principles and models of their interaction with others continue to form, and the experience of being in social groups is accompanied by reflection on one’s place in the group, as well as the goals and objectives of the social groups themselves.

It is important to note that personal, meta-subject and subject results are revealed in the Approximate Basic Program from the point of view of the tasks that are set for training. At the same time, the tasks themselves are considered from the point of view of levels of mastering systematic knowledge: initial familiarization, development and understanding of the material; identification and awareness of entities and features; identifying and analyzing significant and sustainable relationships; and from the point of view of what the solution of educational and cognitive tasks is aimed at. All this is very important from the point of view that group forms of organizing work can in many ways prove to be a very effective way to solve these problems, and training, as one of the types of group work, can provide an opportunity to solve a number of these problems in the most qualitative way.

At the same time, we especially draw attention to the fact that trainings are able to solve the problem of forming a number of universal educational actions, both personal, in particular within the framework of the activity (behavioral) component, for example, “forming the need for participation in the public life of the immediate social environment, socially useful activities” and regulatory: “the graduate will learn goal setting, including setting new goals, transforming a practical problem into a cognitive one.” Separately, we note that, in accordance with the Approximate Basic Program, a graduate, and at a certain stage and at a level corresponding to his age characteristics, an eighth-grader, will learn within the framework of the section “Man in the Social Dimension” those skills that can be developed in the most appropriate form precisely with the help of group forms of organizing training, for example

“demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics and practical mastery of the methods of communicative, practical activity used in the process of cognition of man and society.” Thus, our analysis of the Approximate Basic Program showed, on the one hand, the importance of studying in the eighth grade educational material related to issues of social relations, social interaction and social groups, and, on the other hand, at the same time revealed the necessary prerequisites for the use of group forms of organizing training, including through training, as one of the types of group forms of work.

Having analyzed the requirements of the Law “On Education”, the Federal State Educational Standard for Basic General Education, as well as the Approximate Basic Educational Program7, we can conclude that the results of the school study of the “Social Studies” course that they contain can well be realized, including through the use of training technologies.

The use of trainings is possible as “experimental activities aimed at developing, testing and implementing new educational technologies, educational resources and carried out in the form of experiments...”, the implementation of which is stipulated by the Law “On Education” and is fully consistent with the system-activity approach that underlies the Federal State Educational Standard basic general education.

In our opinion, training, better than any other group work, is able to create a social situation for the development of students, ensuring their social self-identification through personally significant activities, as well as promoting the formation of readiness and ability to conduct dialogue with other people and achieve mutual understanding in it.

Analysis of the social studies exam in the form of the Unified State Exam

Number of students: 3

Number of people who wrote the work: 3

Teacher: Zalevskaya N.I.

Absolute academic performance: 100%

Analysis of the exam in the form of the Unified State Exam showed the following:

Part 1 contains 20 short answer tasks, tasks of two difficulty levels: 10 basic level tasks and 10 advanced level tasks. Maximum primary score - 35

The examination paper offers the following types of short-answer tasks:

Tasks for choosing and recording one or more correct answers from the proposed list of answers;

A task to identify the structural elements of concepts using diagrams and tables;

The task is to establish correspondence between positions presented in two sets;

A task to differentiate facts and opinions in social information;

The task is to define terms and concepts corresponding to the proposed context.

Tasks 1-3 are aimed at testing knowledge and understanding of the biosocial essence of a person, the main stages and factors of personal socialization, patterns and trends in the development of society, basic social institutions and processes, etc.

Tasks 4-19 include tasks of basic and advanced levels aimed at testing the development of skills: characterize from a scientific point of view, the main social objects (facts, phenomena, processes, institutions), their place and significance in the life of society as an integral system; search social information presented in various sign systems (text, diagram, table, diagram); apply socio-economic and humanitarian knowledge in the process of solving cognitive problems on current social problems. The tasks in this group represent the traditional five thematic modules of the social science course: man and society, including cognition and spiritual culture (tasks 4-6); economics (tasks 7-10), social relations (tasks 11, 12); politics (tasks 13-15); law (tasks 16-19).

Task 20 is aimed at testing the skills: analyze and summarize disordered social information; distinguish it contains facts and opinions, arguments and conclusions; explain internal and external connections (cause-effect and functional) of the studied social objects (including interactions between man and society, society and nature, society and culture, subsystems and structural elements of the social system, social qualities of a person.

Part 2 contains 9 tasks with detailed answers, two tasks of a basic level (21 and 22) and seven tasks of a high level of complexity (23-29). The maximum primary score is 27.

Tasks 21 and 22 are aimed primarily at identifying the ability to find, consciously perceive and accurately reproduce information contained in the text explicitly (task 21), as well as apply it in a given context.

Task 23 is aimed at characterizing (or explaining, or specifying) the text or its individual provisions based on the course studied, based on contextual social science knowledge.

Task 24 involves the use of text information in another cognitive situation, independent formulation and argumentation of evaluative, predictive and other judgments related to the problems of the text.

Task 25 tests the ability to independently discover the meaning of key social science concepts and apply them in a given context.

Task 26 tests the ability to concretize with examples the studied theoretical positions and concepts of the social sciences that form the social science course.

Task-task 27 requires: analysis of the information presented, including statistical and graphical information; explanations of the connection between social objects and processes; formulation and argumentation of independent evaluative, prognostic and other judgments, explanations, conclusions. This task tests your ability to use

social science knowledge in the process of solving cognitive problems on current social problems.

Task 28 requires drawing up a plan for a detailed answer on a specific topic in a social science course. When performing tasks of this type, the following skills are revealed: systematize and generalize social information; establish and reflect in the structure of the plan structural, functional, hierarchical and other connections of social objects, phenomena, processes.

The work is completed by alternative task 29, which directs the examinee to write a mini-essay on one of the five proposed topics.

Tasks 1-3, 10, 12 are scored 1 point. The task is considered completed correctly if the answer is written in the form specified in the instructions for completing the task.

Correct completion of tasks 4-9, 11, 13-20 is scored 2 points. These tasks are scored as follows: complete correct completion of the task - 2 points; completing a task with one error (one incorrectly indicated, including an extra, digit along with all the correct digits) OR incomplete completion of the task (missing one required digit) - 1 point; incorrect completion of the task (indicating two or more incorrect numbers) - 0 points.

Complete correct completion of the tasks in Part 2 is scored from 2 to 5 points. For complete correct completion of tasks 21, 22, 2 points are awarded; tasks 23-28 - 3 points each; tasks 29 - 5 points.

Total - 29 tasks (62 points).

The analysis showed that students completed the tasks of Part 1 better compared to the trial exam held in April 2017 (Fig. 1)

Picture 1.

Comparative analysis of the completion of tasks of part 1

The analysis showed that students completed Part 2 tasks better compared to the trial exam held in April 2017 (Fig. 2)

Figure 2.

Comparative analysis of task completion, part 2

The analysis showed that students improved their performance on tasks at the basic, advanced and high levels (Table 1).

Table 1.

Comparative analysis of task completion (by difficulty level)

Class average - 57,7 (during the trial exam - 44,6 ).

Analysis of the task showed that students completed:

- 56 % of tasks of group 1 (trial - 44% );

- 89 % of tasks from the section “Man and Society, Including Cognition and Spiritual Culture” (trial - 44 %);

- 76 % of tasks from the “Economics” section (trial - 45,5 %);

- 78 % of tasks from the “Social Relations” section (trial - 41,5 %);

- 50 % of tasks from the “Politics” section (trial - 50 %);

- 58 % of tasks from the “Law” section (trial - 62 %);

- 100 % of task No. 20 (trial - 66 %);

- 35 % of tasks part 2 (trial - 11 %).

Difficulties were caused by tasks 3, 17 (basic level); 15, 18 (increased level); 24-29 (high level).

was. Even what seems established and undoubted can disappear after a few generations. The so-called “civilization”, material and spiritual benefits, knowledge, values, in short, what we count on and what constitutes a system of “reliable” means created by man as a kind of raft for salvation in life’s shipwreck - all this is absolutely problematic and disappears in the blink of an eye with the slightest carelessness. The so-called “unconditional achievements” slip out of our hands, turning into disembodied, flying ghosts. The history of mankind is a series of crises, retreats, declines. Worse still: the danger of a regression much more radical than those known so far exists to this day.... questions for the document: 1. How do you understand the main idea of ​​the given fragment? 2. Do you share the point of view of the author of the passage that “there are no absolutely reliable human achievements and never have been”? 3. In your opinion, can moral and religious values, universal moral standards prevent “the total degeneration of humanity as such, a return to the animal state, to final and complete alienation”?? 4. what can you say about the values ​​of Faith, Hope and Love?? Can they be considered as a reliable “raft of salvation?”

1 This means that now and always everything that has been created by man is not reliable, since everything is constantly changing and what you are used to seeing today will be a little different in the future, that man’s creations are limitless, that’s why they are not reliable.
2 It is quite possible to agree with him, since this statement has a place to be, which is why I described it under number one.

3 Why not, if people change their attitude towards many things, the world will become a much better place, but this is unlikely, since humanity has destroyed itself to such an extent that only a miracle will save them!

4 I believe that it is possible, no matter what happens, deep down in every person’s soul there remains faith and hope in something, and even more so love.

Document analysis method

Document analysis method is a method of collecting data during research of control systems, based on the use of information recorded in written or printed form, on magnetic film, in electronic form, in iconographic form, etc.

Document concept.

Document in sociology, it is a specially created human object designed to transmit or store information. In everyday life the concept of “document” appears in its narrow meaning- like an official document. Such a document must have visible signs of official status: seals, stamps of the organization, etc. Documents in this sense can be called a passport, official letter, medical history, etc. In sociology the term "document" is used in extremely broad meaning- like any carrier of information about social phenomena and processes. In addition, any document is always a representation of the author himself, expressed in the content of the document, its style and means of expression. Hence a certain secondary nature of this method: researcher here has no direct contact with the reality that is being studied, as is the case during observation and questioning. Any document - always coded information that incorporates the communicator’s goals and intentions, his vision, and interpretation of reality. The entire variety of documents used in sociological research can be “packed” into classifications built on various grounds.

By criterion "document status" documents can be highlighted:

official;

unofficial. TO official include laws, regulations, minutes of meetings, statistical reporting materials, archives, etc. TO unofficial– personal letters, diaries, secondary analysis materials made by the researcher, amateur videos, etc. By criterion “degree of personification of the document” documents can be highlighted:

personal;

impersonal.

Personal considered author's documents: essay in a newspaper, autobiography, diary, letters, as well as documents related to to a specific person: reader’s form in the library, business profile, medical history, etc. Impersonal documents, on the contrary, do not have specific authors and do not relate to a particular person: statistical materials, minutes of meetings, laws, financial statements, etc. By criterion “document creation situation” can be distinguished:

sociologist-provoked documents;

unprovoked (natural).

TO provoked include documents that are created specifically for research purposes at the request of a sociologist. These can be school essays, autobiographies, memoirs. Unprovoked– these are all other types of documents that naturally exist in society, “serving” our daily life. The classification is widespread in the literature by type of material media. The documents highlighted here are:

written(all types of printed and handwritten products);

iconographic(video, film, photographic documents, paintings, engravings, etc.)

phonetic(radio and tape recordings, gramophone records, etc.)

This concept excludes such serious sources of information as objects of material culture and everyday life. The value of these objects for obtaining certain social information is beyond doubt, however, the inclusion of objects of material culture and everyday life in the concept of a document would lead to an unlawful expansion of the concept (i.e., houses, bridges, furniture, a fountain pen, etc. would be documents).

Traditional and formalized document analysis: opportunities and limitations, traditional areas of research. Document analysis- this is a set of methodological techniques and procedures used to extract sociological information from documentary sources in the study of social processes and phenomena in order to solve certain research problems. The range of documents containing information of interest to a sociologist is so wide and so informative due to the extreme breadth and diversity of the various aspects of social reality reflected in them, that almost any specific sociological study must begin with an analysis of existing documents on the problem under study. In classical sociological research, mainly two types of analysis of documentary information are used:

informal (traditional);

formalized.

In its turn, formalized The type of analysis can be represented in three varieties:

content analysis or content analysis;

analysis of statistical information;

information-targeted analysis of text information.

Traditional analysis documentary information Traditional document analysis is a set of certain logical constructions aimed at revealing the main content of the material being studied.

Traditional document analysis consists of examining the content of documents:

Purposes of creation;

Forms and types;

Reliability of documents;

Reliability of the information used.

This method is used in the analysis:

Functional responsibilities in combination with analysis of promotion orders;

Certificates on the results of inspection of the activities of departments;

Letters, complaints coming to the management apparatus.

Informal analysis is based on an “understanding” perception of the text: identifying blocks of ideas that correspond to the goals of the analysis. The fact is that in most cases, the information contained in documents that interests a sociologist is present in them in an implicit, hidden form, in a form that meets the goals for which the document was created (statistical report, law, information message, etc. ), and this does not always coincide with the interests and objectives of sociological analysis. Traditional analysis allows you to transform the original form of information contained in a document into the form of information that interests the researcher. This understanding of the text is achieved through the efforts of the mind: the use of logical operations of synthesis, analysis, comparison, evaluation, etc. From the perspective of the quantitative approach methodology, this type of analysis is not good enough, because “suffers” from the subjectivity of the researcher, and therefore from the possibility information shifts, deviation from the “true state of affairs.” In fact, understanding a text depends not only on the researcher’s degree of mastery of mental operations, but also on his psychophysiological characteristics: fatigue, ability to concentrate, memory, etc. The perception of a text is also greatly influenced by unconscious mental phenomena, in particular the mechanism of psychological defense, when unpleasant moments for the researcher are “naturally” missed in the text, but, on the contrary, pleasant ones immediately catch the eye. The role of intuition, knowledge of the subject of study, as well as the value orientations and worldview of the researcher, which act as a kind of evaluation basis, a platform from the position of which the analyzed text is perceived, is also significant. This type of analysis of documentary information should be distinguished from simple understanding of certain texts, with which every person deals in everyday life: we read and understand newspaper articles, books, textbooks. Informal analysis as a research method involves the perception of text in the context of research tasks . This means that, in accordance with the strict logic of the quantitative approach, the sociologist puts forward research problems, formulates a hypothesis, and only then looks for confirmation or refutation of the hypothesis in the text. At the same time, in this capacity informal analysis of documentary information in classical research used quite rarely precisely because of the above-mentioned shortcomings. At the same time at the exploration stage his role is quite large: together with other methods - free interviews, individual or group forms of expert questioning - it helps the sociologist to highlight edge of the problem more than others in need of study, determine the subject of research, formulate a hypothesis. But even at this reconnaissance stage, the main feature of informal document analysis as a research method is noted: understanding, perception of the text here occurs in the context research objectives, those research questions (or tasks) that a sociologist sets for himself when starting a study. Traditional analysis distinguishes between external And interior. The purpose of external analysis is to establish the type of document, its form, time and place of appearance, author, initiator, purpose of its creation, how reliable and reliable it is. What is its context? Neglecting such an analysis in many cases threatens to misinterpret the content of the document. Credibility. Documents can become a source of obtaining the necessary information about the object being studied only when sociologists have assessed reliability documentary information available to them. When assessing the reliability of documentary data, a number of circumstances must be taken into account. First, official documents are generally more reliable than informal ones. Secondly, personal documents (characteristics, individual registration cards, questionnaires, etc.) have a greater degree of reliability than impersonal documents (press data, minutes of meetings, meetings, etc.). Thirdly, documents of a legal nature (court ruling, notarized data, etc.), as well as those documents that are subject to financial control (information about manufactured products, wages, etc.) have increased reliability. Fourthly, it is necessary to take into account that some personal documents - autobiographies, memoirs, etc. - are biased in nature and, because of this, make it possible to evaluate some of the personal qualities of their authors - talent, modesty, or narcissism, arrogance, etc. It is necessary to find out what the intention of the document's author was, which will help to identify intentional or involuntary distortions. The purpose of internal analysis is to examine the content of the document. Essentially, all the work of a sociologist is aimed at conducting an internal analysis of a document, including identifying the difference between factual and literary content, establishing the level of competence of the author of the document in the matters about which he speaks, and clarifying his personal attitude to the facts described in the document. Direction of research. There are branches of sociology that naturally use traditional document analysis, while others use it to a limited extent. The first include deviantology, gender studies, family sociology, sociology of personality, sociology of culture, those areas where the central object of interest is the individual as a bearer of social and individual experience. In deviantology, the aspect of interest is the focus on understanding the life experiences of these people and trying to explain their psychology. Gender studies is a relatively new area of ​​Russian sociology that studies the differences between male and female behavior patterns and their variability in certain social contexts. This field is predominantly qualitative and uses a variety of tactics: case studies, life histories, family histories. Formalized analysis.

Formalized document analysis is a method of collecting data using a quantitative description of the available information in documents. Various sources of information are analyzed:

Official documents of the organization (charter, decrees, orders, etc.);

Logos;

Emblems;

Labels;

Video recordings;

Newspaper and magazine articles;

Photos, etc.

It is as an alternative to traditional non-formalized methods of document analysis that formalized standardized methods for analyzing the content of documentary sources arose. They began to take shape in the field of sociological research into mass media, and primarily newspapers and magazines. The objective prerequisite for the emergence of these methods was the massification of information and propaganda processes, the growth of the readership and the increase in the number of sources of printed information and the volume of information contained in it. The desire to get rid of the touch of subjectivity, which is quite possible when carrying out traditional analysis, led to the development of a significantly different type of formalized document analysis, i.e. content analysis. Application content analysis began in the 30s of the 20th century by the famous sociologist G. Lasswell in the field of politics and propaganda, but became widespread starting in the 50s, when the fundamental work of B. Berelson “Content Analysis in Communication Research” was published in the USA. This type of analysis is focused on extracting sociological information from large amounts of documentary sources that are difficult or not at all amenable to traditional intuitive analysis. It is based on identifying a certain set of quantitative, statistical characteristics of texts (or messages). It is assumed that the quantitative characteristics of the content of the studied arrays of documents reflect some essential features of the social phenomena and processes being studied, for example, the topics of television programs, the time allocated for certain topics by television companies, reflect to one degree or another the interests of the viewing audience, the information policy of a given source of information and the norms of their interaction existing in society.

Direction of research.

The technique of content analysis is widely used in social research. Originally used to study the effectiveness of mass propaganda, this technique has now become a powerful tool for analyzing all kinds of official documents. Content analysis is also used in the practice of studying letters received by various organizations and government bodies, in political science, in social psychology and pedagogy, etc. Characteristics of the types and methodological features of traditional document analysis. Discourse analysis The concept of discourse has been developed since the 60s. in the works of D. Austin, D. Searle, G. Gorfinkel and others in line with the analysis of oral communication. In Blamer's view, a social problem does not exist until it is recognized; Only after receiving recognition from society do social issues come to the attention of sociologists. Therefore, the concept of discourse analysis must be introduced, since it is necessary to study the process by which society recognizes social problems as the focus of conflicting interests, intentions and goals. Another direction is associated with the name of the linguist de Saussure; he understands discourses as ways of speaking, institutionalized and subject to certain rules. Media-mediated public discussion on political topics becomes public discourse as a kind of indirect conversation among the absent. This highlights the important point of collective interpretation of reality. Both forms of discourse, speech interaction and the institutionalized form of text production, have common features : interest not in a single act of utterance or action, but in their patterns or rules. Components of discourse: speaker → utterance (form and content) → listener (public). With the help of language as a “sign system” we produce meanings, which in turn act as typified schemes. Hence the conceptual apparatus of discourse analysis - a repertoire of interpretations, frame(s), samples of interpretations, story line, script, etc. Discourse analysis is to reconstruct the processes of social objectification, communication and legitimization of semantic structures based on a description of the practices of institutions, organizations of relevant collective actors and to analyze the social impact of these processes. An empirical discourse analysis program looks like a series of sequential tasks or questions asked:

How did this discourse arise?

what changes are recorded in it over time

what subject areas and what audience is it intended for?

what latent and manifesting plots (in the sense of cognitive schemes of perception of “subject content”) does he carry out?

how successful is this discourse, how influential is it

For example, the transformation of a child within certain discourses – into a fetus, an embryo, “life” in the sense of religious value – divides the public discussion about abortion into different departments: secular social policy, the medical topic of prenatal therapy, or church institutions. Therefore, the struggle between competing or warring discourses is primarily waged over a basic thesaurus that describes social issues in certain terms. Grounded theory Grounded theory is a certain way of processing already collected information contained in documents - interview transcripts. This logic can be briefly illustrated as follows. There is a certain set of cases (documents - interview transcripts), for example A, B, C, D, E, F. We take document A and study its characteristics. It has the characteristics of P, R, S. Briefly it can be written as follows: A (P,R,S). We examine other documents in the same way: B (Q,R,S); C(Q,R,S); D(K,R,S); E(K,P,S); F(K,Q,S). Comparing these cases (documents), we can conclude: the characteristic S will be general and repeated. The remaining characteristics are either specific only to a single case, or the researcher was unable to identify something significant that would unite these different characteristics. Ultimately, the conclusion may be as follows: for the existence of phenomenon N, the presence of attribute S is necessary and sufficient and any other common to the cases being studied. The absence of these signs also indicates the absence of the phenomenon itself. Characteristics of types and methodological features of formalized document analysis: information-target analysis, content analysis. As V.A. Yadov notes: “The desire to get rid of the subjectivity of traditional analysis gave rise to the development of fundamentally different, formalized, or, as they are often called, quantitative methods of document analysis. Information-targeted analysis of large text arrays Russian researcher T. Dridze developed another type of formalized analysis, albeit only of textual information - informational and targeted. Within this approach, the text is considered as holistic hierarchical content-semantic structure, united by the author's concept. This association is functional, i.e. focused on achieving a specific communication goal. The main task of the method is to evaluate a specific text from the point of view of its primary and secondary information content . Primary information content is characterized not by the absolute amount of information in the text, but only by that part of it that will become the property of the person receiving the information. Primary information content describes the potential ability of a particular text convey the idea, the main communicative intention author to consumer. Information-targeted analysis as a method of studying the content of documentary sources is focused on the properties of their secondary information content. This property allows for a multifunctional interpretation of the text content. By referring to the text, the user can extract not only that information that reflects the communicative intention of the author, but also other information that meets the cognitive goals of the user himself. This means that primary and secondary information content most often do not coincide with each other, creating “semantic scissors.” Based on an informative and targeted analysis of texts that, to one degree or another, contain information about the area of ​​lifestyle chosen for study, we can, on the one hand, obtain a holistic understanding of the content and structure of normative consciousness (lists of current general and specific legal, moral and ethical , aesthetic and other norms and generally accepted values) as one of the conditions for the activity of social actors. On the other hand, information can be obtained about common and recommended models of activity and interaction: lists of functions and characteristics inherent in different social actors, general and specific goals of activity in general and for private actions, as well as the actions and operations themselves. Content analysis. The procedure for formalized document analysis consists of highlighting certain content elements of interest to the researcher in the text under study, classifying the selected elements in accordance with the conceptual scheme of the study, their subsequent calculation and quantitative analysis. Content analysis is based on standardization of search procedures, determination of units of account in the content of the document being studied, which are individual words (terms, names of political figures, names of parties and movements, geographical names, etc.), judgments expressed in the form of sentences , paragraphs, text fragments, assessments, points of view, arguments, as well as various types of publications (by topic, genre, types of authors, etc.). The definition of units of account depends on the objectives of the study. The substantive core of content analysis is logical model of the subject analysis, in which three elements interact: 1) a categorical model of the subject of analysis; 2) system of units of analysis; 3) measures (units) of measurement. Categorical model of the subject of analysis includes parameters and categories of analysis that reflect the characteristics of the object being studied, their main characteristics and aspects that correspond to the goals and objectives of sociological research. In this case, the parameters of the analysis correspond to the characteristic of the object of study, and the category of analysis corresponds to the value of this characteristic. For example, in the content analysis procedure carried out by a sociologist as part of the research project “Activation of the economic behavior of various groups of the population of Belarus”, one of the significant parameters is the topic “entrepreneurship”. And the categories of content analysis of this topic in various types of documents - in laws on the development of entrepreneurship, statistical materials, publications in the press, etc. - there will be such concepts as “entrepreneur”, “medium business”, “small business”, “capital market”, “goods market”, etc. Thus, the parameter of content analysis is strictly defined by the problem and objectives of the research, and the categories of analysis are more flexibly adapted to the process or phenomenon that is to be analyzed and the tasks that will have to be solved during the research process. Consequently, each parameter of content analysis can be presented in the form of a specific set, and even better (especially if it is necessary to take into account the nature of the relationships between various aspects of the characteristic being studied) in the form of an integral system of analysis categories. CONCLUSION Techniques for qualitative and quantitative analysis of documents. The main difficulty when working with accessible (i.e., non-target) documents is the ability to read data in the language of research hypotheses. After all, the document was not compiled at all in order to test the sociologist’s hypotheses. Therefore, before analyzing documentary materials on their merits, a sociologist is forced to do the tedious work of searching in the document for indicators (signs) of key research concepts. A quantitative approach can help identify sustainable trends in the propaganda strategy and identify the most important topics, directions, and tasks in it. However, here there is a danger of overlooking certain shifts in its strategy, which can be expressed in statements that are insignificant at first glance. That's why Quantitative analysis must be constantly supplemented by qualitative analysis. Based on the latter, certain clarifications can be made and methods of quantitative analysis can be improved. At all, the document analysis method is almost as universal , as well as survey methods. With its help you can get information about past, present and future: to reconstruct social phenomena and processes that are long gone, but significant for people living today; describe images of the future of the country, generation, and individual social group. In addition, the documents contain information about behavior and performance people, as well as about their consciousness: assessments, motives, life plans, value orientations. This method makes it possible not only to reconstruct an event, a social phenomenon, but also to understand way of thinking, expectations, hopes and disappointments certain social communities. With its help you can understand what cultural models were in use in the country at a particular stage of its history, what norms, “rules of the game” existed then, how they were accepted. Qualitative document analysis is a prerequisite for all quantitative operations.

The goals of social science education orient schoolchildren toward active social work in a society where personality develops and adapts in different social environments, where interest in finding their own, special, individual perception of the world increases, where a person is established as a bearer of social experience and a reasonable transformer of the world around him. This orientation can be significantly strengthened if written sources are systematically included in work in social studies lessons. The pedagogical capabilities of sources are largely determined by their content, value orientation, and emotional coloring.

An important condition for the successful use of documents is their classification, which systematizes various types of documents and outlines specific limits of use. The social science course uses:

1. Regulatory documents.

2. Memoir sources.

3. Program documents.

4. Statistical materials.

5. Information materials.

6. Personal documents.

7. Materials of scientific, political, social, legal, economic, philosophical discussions (verbatim reports, protocols)

8. Journalistic materials.

9. Philosophical texts.

10. Scientific, popular science texts.

Let us briefly describe each of these types of documents.

1) Regulatory documents.

Science understands a normative act as an official written document adopted by an authorized body of the state; it establishes, modifies or abolishes rules of law. Regulatory acts are classified according to their legal force, determined by the competence and position of the body that issued them in the general system of law-making bodies of the state, as well as the nature of the acts themselves. There are differences between Constitutions (Basic Law) and other laws adopted by the highest body of state power, as well as by-laws.

A normative document is, first of all, a manifestation of an imperious will, which, subjugating it, forces people to adhere to the orders that it has created. The purpose of a normative document is to regulate the behavior of people in the state. Any procedures are unthinkable without regulatory documents. Every area of ​​public life is regulated by law, and the peculiarity of these documents is that they are written in legal language.

The pedagogical role of this type of document is great, since by studying legal primary sources in the classroom, the following pedagogical tasks can be solved: learn to understand the language of a normative document, provide knowledge of the law; cultivate respect for the law; develop the ability to competently use legal literature.

It is difficult to imagine only a theoretical study of a normative document, since any normative document is aimed at practical application. The study of these documents helps students better understand the socio-legal issues of society and prepares them for the practical application of real life.

The works of methodologists studying the teaching of law note that working with primary sources contributes to the development of political and legal thinking and the formation of an active life position. Scientists have always talked about the pedagogical effectiveness of studying legal sources.

Legal sources should be studied in all topics of the courses "Introduction to Social Science" and "Man and Society", as this focuses on a solid mastery of the laws governing activities in all spheres of social life. So, for example, when studying the topic “Is it possible to overcome the environmental crisis” (grade 8), it is reasonable to include “Law on the Animal World”; the topic "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" (9th grade) requires work with the named document; when studying ancient civilizations, the issue of the formation and development of the state and law, one can draw on the laws of the Roman Empire (“Agreement on the purchase of a slave”); when studying economic issues, it is advisable to involve the Constitution of the Russian Federation (articles on economic rights and freedoms of citizens), the “Law on Joint-Stock Companies”, regulatory documents on the activities of the banking system; when studying the political sphere, it is useful to involve the “law on elections to the State Duma”, the Constitution of the Russian Federation and other documents; When studying the spiritual sphere, regulatory documents on scientific discoveries and inventions, on intellectual property and others are used.