Even in ancient times, people were interested not only in who would manage the population or part of it, but also what kind of person such a person should be. This question was asked not only by ordinary citizens of the then states, but also by scientists and philosophers; the first steps in the study of different problems can be found in the texts of the works of ancient Greek and ancient Roman classics. Over the centuries, the idea of ​​the ideal leader has constantly evolved. Machiavelli also dealt with this problem (his most famous work, The Sovereign, just describes what an ideal ruler should be), and many other thinkers.

Now, psychology, political science, and many other modern sciences are developing their own classifications and theories of leadership, its nature, and other related things. Consideration of the most popular theories is conducted in this publication.

Theories on the origin of leadership

The theory of leadership traits, or charismatic theory, is one of the earliest serious approaches to the problem of leadership and what in a person is a prerequisite for it. The basis of this theory is the idea that a person does not become a leader as a result of his actual actions and his own life experience, but is one immediately from the moment of birth. The essence of the theory of traits itself is to identify those qualities that are necessarily inherent in a born leader.

Back in 1948, R. Stogdill made an attempt to compile a list of such characteristics. His list included such qualities of an individual as:

• intellectual possibilities;
• dominance over others;
• self-confidence;
• serious knowledge of what he does;
• activity (energy, lack of passivity).

It is important to know! In practice, the lists that Stogdilla and R. Mann (compiled in 1959) did not work: the main quality in them, intelligence, was inherent in many people who were not leaders in fact.

In the mid-eighties, W. Bennis, the most famous consultant from America, conducted a large-scale study of nine dozen popular leaders and divided the characteristics that define their personality into four groups:

1. physiological - weight, height, and so on, and distinguishing a person from society is not necessarily in a favorable direction (Churchill, Macedonian, Lenin are excellent examples of this);
2. emotional (psychological) - efficiency, initiative and many other character traits (in practice, no evidence of a connection with leadership was really found);
3. intellectual - the smarter the person, the closer he is to leadership, although this still depends on the average mental level of the audience, therefore, again, there is no direct correlation to be found here;
4. personal business - these are skills already acquired in the process of work; here everything depends on the level of skills in a particular area and again does not find direct evidence of the fidelity of this part of the theory, because if someone had success in the field, for example, the art business, it is not a fact that his skills would help him reach the top in banking, and vice versa.

The theory of personality traits is interesting in itself, but its practical application often fails, which speaks more about the incorrectness of the approach to studying leadership qualities than about the possibility of applying it to reality. The lack of clear evidence of a connection with the identified qualities and an almost endless list of such characteristics themselves indicate the failure of either the people who conducted the research, or the whole theory as a whole.

The essence of such theories is that the personal qualities of a leader and his characteristic management style are important, but the success of his actions depends on the specific situation, so situational leadership theories are important for practice.

The leader must be able to turn any situation in a favorable direction for business and be able to adapt to sudden changes in what is happening; in short, the leader must be flexible and mobile. For successful "twisting" in any situation, a clear knowledge of the qualities of subordinate people is a necessity.

Currently, this is one of the still relevant leadership theories.

It is important to know! There is also a compromise theory, a system one - it involves the definition of a leader as the most effective organizer of subordinates in order to solve the problem facing them.

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Also, such a person will combine the greatest number of qualities that fall under the set of values ​​of an organized group of people.

This set of theories is limited to two - one is focused on interpersonal relations between the leader and subordinates, and for the other it is important to achieve the goal at any cost. For both theories, the important criteria are:

• ways of influencing the staff and, in general, the attitude of the boss towards subordinates;
• the degree of delegation of authority to subordinates;
• type of power;
• way of interacting with the external environment.

Already in the sixties of the twentieth century, behavioral leadership theories were recognized as untenable because of their limitations, because they did not take into account many other factors that affect management effectiveness.

Leadership theories from the point of view of psychology

Theories of leadership in psychology, all as one, argue that the very fact of becoming a leader, leader, boss is influenced, first of all, by the desire of the person himself to become one; but the existing explanations for the presence of such a desire are very different.

According to Freud, the basis of the desire to have a leadership position is repressed sexual desire. The followers of Freudian psychoanalysis, instead of libido, consider psychic energy as a whole to be the main thing here; sublimating, a person strives to guide something, creativity, and so on.

Also, leadership can help a person to fill in the missing aspects of his life, that is, to satisfy the psychological needs for something. For example, being a leader can replace someone's ability to become a parent; say, the CEO of a large company is like a “father” to its employees; why not compensation?

Representatives of the Frankfurt School identified a personality type pathologically striving for leadership due to many complexes: this is an authoritarian person, most often found in dysfunctional societies. Imposing one's will on others is a psychological need of such individuals; meanwhile, such aspirations are by no means a sign of strength, but of a serious inner weakness of a person.

However, there are many more motivations for gaining power than described earlier in this section. One of the examples of treating it not as a pleasure is instrumental (it gives material and not only benefits, and if it didn’t, many would not at all aspire to leadership positions and even informal leadership). Another example is "game" leadership, that is, the fascination and interest of the management process itself for the leader.

unresolved problem

The problem of leadership and traits characteristic of a leader is still in the unresolved area; theories are still being developed, many of them are constantly refuted by practice, and scientists cannot come to a unified solution.

Functional management

With a functional (hierarchical) approach to organizing management, each structural unit of the organization (employee, department, management) is assigned a number of functions, the area of ​​responsibility is described, and criteria for successful and unsuccessful activities are formulated. At the same time, as a rule, horizontal connections between structural units are weak, and vertical ones, including the line "boss-subordinate", are strong. The subordinate is responsible only for the functions entrusted to him and, possibly, for the activities of his unit as a whole. He is not very interested in the functions and results of the work of parallel structural units.

The main disadvantages of the functional approach to managing an organization resulting from the lack of focus on the final result, recognized high overhead costs, long periods of development of management decisions, the risk of losing customers.

FP benefits:

The boss is always right => quick response to instructions execution

"Install and use" - a quick launch of the organization into work

"Create and try" - encouragement of creativity

Clearly expressed responsibility => an emotional factor is enough to move up the career ladder

BPM- business process management is the modeling, execution, management and optimization of business processes.

BPM tasks:

Gaining knowledge on debugging and documenting various types of organizations

Knowledge of identification and classification

Establishment of quality characteristics of business processes

Modification of the previous management

Creation of information support for making justified decisions in the company's activities.

1. The concept of "organization". Types of organizations, their differences Process approach to organization management. The concept of a business model. Features of a process-oriented organization.

Organization- socio-technical economic system, a group of people striving to achieve common goals

Functioning - joint activity

The organization consists of:

informal

Formal (legal entity law)

informal organization- a spontaneously emerging group of people who interact with each other quite regularly.

Formal:

formal organization- an organization that has the right of a legal entity, the objectives of which are enshrined in the constituent documents, and the functioning - in the regulations, agreements and provisions governing the rights and responsibilities of each of the participants in the organization.

Formal organizations divided into commercial and non-commercial organizations.

Commercial organizations- organizations whose activities are aimed at systematically making a profit from the use of property, the sale of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services.

Non-Profit Organizations- organizations that do not have as the main goal of their activities the extraction of profit and do not distribute the profit received among the participants of the organization.

Process approach to management

Management is the process of informative interaction between the subject of management (CS) and the object of management (OC), which encourages to take some action to achieve the goals of the subject

Control scheme:

The activity of any organization is a continuous process, so if we consider the company as a system of processes. The process approach is one of the possible aspects of business optimization. A system built on processes should reflect the essence of the activity under study and the development of the enterprise.

The process approach considers management as a continuous series of interrelated management functions:

Action planning

Organization of actions

Action Motivation

Action coordination

Action control

As well as additional connecting processes: communication and decision making.

A process-oriented organization is an organization that can provide within itself the conditions for a continuous process of producing goods and services, including ensuring control and quality of results at the stages of the process, with the interaction of departments and employees.

Continuity conditions - the possibility of organizing the replacement of equipment and employees without creating a critical situation.

Business model- a compact simplified view of the business, designed for a holistic view and analysis of the activities of the entire system of interrelated business business processes

Features of a process-oriented organization:

Availability of business models.

Organized information management system

Development of a clearly established procedure in the development of documentation.

The organization has a hierarchy of levels of control

Level of strategic management (decision making with a perspective of 3-5 years)

The level of management efficiency is produced (1-1.5 years)

Operating activities. - Operational management (planning within a calendar month) - Operational management (of the current month)

Real time control (what is now)

It makes it possible to determine indicators and criteria for evaluating performance, management at each stage of the management chain.

What is process orientation?

Reduction of process execution time due to regulation and automation

Increasing the quality of products or services

Metric-based management introduced

Flexibility, (willingness to change co-workers)

“Functionalism as a method is as old as the first sprouts of interest in alien, and therefore, by all accounts, wild and barbaric cultures - whoever had such an interest: the Greek historian Herodotus, from the French encyclopedist Montesquieu or the German romantic Herder.

If I have been able to make any modest contribution, it is to create a label of functionalism for an already existing body of scientific ideas, methods and interests; but in this respect too, in my article I refer to my predecessors, who number twenty-seven. Thus I probably acted as obstetrician and godfather to the youngest of the jumble of anthropological schools and continued to practice maieutike techne (the art of midwifery) in teaching the youngest generation of researchers in the field, following the precepts of one great teacher who liked to describe his work as midwife art. There was another great teacher who gave functionalism its motto “by their fruits you will know them” (Mat. 7:16). […]

I assume that all field experience, as well as careful consideration of the really significant manifestations of organized behavior in humans, show the validity of the following axioms:

A. Culture is essentially an instrumental apparatus by which a person is placed in a position to better cope with the specific concrete problems that confront him in the course of his interaction with the environment to satisfy his needs.

B. It is such a system of participants, activities and relationships, where each part exists as a means to achieve a specific goal.

B. It is a holistic entity, the various elements of which are interdependent.

D. Cultural activities, relationships, and participants are organized on a vital mission basis into institutions such as the family, clan, local group, tribe, and organized groups for economic cooperation, political, legal, and educational activities.

E. From a dynamic point of view, that is, taking into account types of activity, culture can be decomposed into a number of aspects - such as education, social control, economics, systems of knowledge, beliefs and morality, as well as types of creative and artistic expression. In any of its concrete manifestations, the cultural process always involves people in certain relationships to each other, which means that they are organized in a certain way, use artifacts and communicate with each other through speech or other symbolic means. Artifacts, organized groups, and symbolism are three closely related dimensions of the cultural process. What is the connection between them?

Turning first to the material apparatus of culture, we can say that each artifact is either a tool or an object of direct use, that is, it belongs to the class of consumer goods. In any case, the context in which the item occurs, as well as its form, is determined by its use. Function and form are related. […]

This analysis will allow us to more accurately define the concept functions. We should approach function through the notion of use, or the notion of thing and relation.

As we can see, in all activities, the use of some object as part of a behavioral act, defined in terms of technology, law and ritual, makes it possible to satisfy a certain need. Fruits and roots are harvested, fish are caught, animals are hunted, cattle are milked and slaughtered - all this serves to replenish the pantry of man. After that, these products are processed and prepared for serving. Everything ends with a meal - individual or joint. So the need for nutrition drives a huge variety of processes. It will not be a revelation to anyone if it is said that the progress of mankind depends on the satiety of its belly, that the crowd can be satisfied with bread and circuses, and that the materialistic factor of a satisfactory food supply is one of the determinants of human history and evolution. The functionalist will only add to this that the motives that govern parts of this process and are divided into the passion for gardening and hunting, the mercantile interest in a profitable exchange or sale, and the desire to generously bestow on one's neighbor, should be analyzed with reference to the main motive, the urge to hunger. The generalizing function of all the processes that make up the culturally organized supply of the community is the satisfaction of the primary biological need for nutrition.

If we turn to another type of activity, such as making and maintaining fire, we can again relate it to the main uses of fire - for cooking, maintaining the temperature of the environment, and also for performing some technical processes. The variety of religious and secular, legal and technical relations built around fire, hearth, sacred flame - all this we can associate with the basic biologically important functions of fire.

Or take a human dwelling. This is a material object, a structure made of logs or branches, animal skins, snow or stones. The form, technology of building a dwelling, its components and furnishings - all of them are associated with the use of a dwelling, which, in turn, closes on the organization of home ownership, a family group and people who are on its provision and in its service. Here, again, when studying the technological phases of building a dwelling and the elements of its structure, one should keep in mind the generalizing function of an integral object.

Bronislav Malinovsky, Functional Theory / Scientific Theory of Culture, M., "O.G.I", 1999, p.139, 142-143 and 145-146.

Structural approach- direction, focused on the identification and description of the structure of objects (phenomena). It is characterized by: in-depth attention to the description of the current state of objects; elucidation of their inherent timeless properties; interest not in isolated facts, but in the relationships between them. As a result, a system of interrelations is built between the elements of the object at various levels of its organization.

Usually, the structural approach does not emphasize the relationship between the parts and the whole in the object and the dynamics of the revealed structures. In this case, the decomposition of the whole into parts (decomposition) can be carried out according to various options. An important advantage of the structural method is the relative ease of visual representation of the results in the form of various models. These models can be given in the form of descriptions, a list of elements, a graphic diagram, a classification, etc.

An inexhaustible example of such modeling is the representation of the structure and types of personality: a three-element model according to 3. Freud; personality types according to Jung; "circle of Eysenck"; multifactorial model of R. Assagioli. Our domestic science did not lag behind foreign psychology in this matter: endo- and exopsyche according to A. F. Lazursky and the development of his views by V. D. Balin; structure of personal ty of the four complex complexes according to B. G. Ananiev; individual-individual scheme of V. S. Merlin; lists of A. G. Kovalev and P. I. Ivanov; dynamic functional structure of personality according to K. K. Platonov; scheme of A. I. Shcherbakov, etc.

The structural approach is an attribute of any research devoted to the study of the constitutional organization of the psyche and the structure of its material substrate - the nervous system. Here we can mention the typology of GNI by IP Pavlov and its development by B. M. Teplov, V. D. Nebylitsyn and others. The models of V. M. Rusalov, reflecting the morphological, neuro- and psychodynamic constitution of a person, have received wide recognition. Structural models of the human psyche in spatial and functional aspects are presented in the works. The associative psychology of F. Hartley and its consequences (in particular, the psychophysics of "pure sensations" of the 19th century), as well as the structural psychology of W. Wundt and E. Titchener, serve as classic examples of the approach under consideration. A specific concretization of the approach is the method of microstructural analysis, which includes elements of both genetic, and functional, and systemic approaches.

3.3. functional method

functional approach, naturally, it is focused on the identification and study of the functions of objects (phenomena). The ambiguity of interpretation in science of the concept of "function" makes it difficult to define this approach, as well as to identify certain areas of psychological research with it. We will adhere to the opinion that a function is a manifestation of the properties of objects in a certain system of relations, and properties are a manifestation of the quality of an object in its interaction with other objects. Thus, a function is an implementation of the relationship between the object and the environment, and even more so - “the correspondence between the environment and the system”.

Therefore, the functional approach is mainly interested in connections of the studied object with the environment. It proceeds from the principle of self-regulation and maintaining the balance of the objects of reality (including the psyche and its carriers). [ 47]

Examples of the implementation of the functional approach in the history of science are such well-known areas as "functional psychology" and "behaviorism". K. Lewin's famous dynamic field theory is a classic example of the embodiment of a functional idea in psychology. In modern psychology, the functional approach is enriched with components of structural and genetic analysis. So, the idea of ​​a multi-level and multi-phase nature of all human mental functions, acting simultaneously at all levels as a whole, has already been firmly established. The above examples of the structures of the personality, the nervous system, and the psyche can rightly be taken as an illustration of the functional approach, since the elements of these structures are also considered by most authors of the corresponding models as functional units that embody certain connections of a person with reality.

Genetic.

Structural.

Functional.

Complex.

System.

Even more than organizational, these methods deserve to be defined approaches, since they are primarily explanatory principles that predetermine the direction of interpretation of research results. Using one method or another does not mean cutting off others. On the contrary, a combination of approaches is common in psychology. And this applies not only to research practice, but also to psychodiagnostics, psychological counseling and psychocorrection.

genetic method - this is a way of studying and explaining phenomena (including mental ones), based on the analysis of their development both in ontogenetic and phylogenetic plans. This requires the establishment of: 1) the initial conditions for the occurrence of the phenomenon; 2) the main stages and 3) the main trends in its development. The purpose of the method is to reveal the connection of the studied phenomena in time, to trace the transition from lower forms to higher ones. So wherever it is required to reveal the temporal dynamics of mental phenomena, the genetic method is an indispensable research tool for a psychologist. The genetic method is especially characteristic of various branches of developmental psychology: comparative, developmental, and historical psychology. It is clear that any longitudinal study involves the application of the method under consideration. The genetic approach can also be seen as the implementation of one of the basic principles of psychology, namely development principle. With such a vision, other options for implementing the principle of development can be considered as modifications of the genetic approach. For example, historical and evolutionary approaches.

Structural method - this is a direction focused on identifying and describing the structure of objects (phenomena). It is characterized by: in-depth attention to the description of the current state of objects; elucidation of their inherent timeless properties; interest not in isolated facts, but in the relation between them. As a result, a system of relationships between the elements of the object at various levels of its organization is built.

Usually, the structural approach does not emphasize the relationship between the parts and the whole in the object and the dynamics of the revealed structures. An important advantage of the structural method is the possibility of visual representation of the results in the form of various models. These models can be given in the form of descriptions, a list of elements, a graphical scheme, classification, etc. An inexhaustible example of such modeling is the representation of the structure and types of personality: the three-element model according to Z. Freud, personality types according to C. Jung, the Eysenck circle, etc.

The structural method is an attribute of any research devoted to the study of the constitutional organization of the psyche and the structure of its material substrate - the nervous system. Here we can mention the typology of GNI by I.P. Pavlova and its development B.M. Teplov, V.D. Nebylitsyn and others.

functional method focused on identifying and studying the functions of objects (phenomena). The functional approach is mainly interested in the connections of the object under study with the environment. It proceeds from the principle of self-regulation and maintaining the balance of the objects of reality (including the psyche and its carriers).

Examples of the implementation of the functional approach in the history of science are such well-known areas as "functional psychology" and "behaviorism", K. Levin's field theory. In modern psychology, the functional approach is enriched with components of structural and genetic analysis.

Complex method - this is a direction that considers the object of study as a set of components to be studied using an appropriate set of methods. Components can be both relatively homogeneous parts of the whole, and its heterogeneous sides that characterize the object under study in different aspects. Often an integrated approach involves the study of a complex object by the methods of a complex of sciences, i.e., the organization of an interdisciplinary study. It is obvious that an integrated approach involves the use, to one degree or another, of all previous interpretive methods.

A vivid example of the implementation of an integrated approach in science is concept of human knowledge, according to which man, as the most complex object of study, is subject to a coordinated study of a large complex of sciences. In psychology, this idea of ​​the complexity of the study of man was clearly formulated by B.G. Ananiev. A person is considered simultaneously as a representative of the biological species Homo sapiens (individual), as a carrier of consciousness and an active element of cognitive and reality-transforming activity (subject), as a subject of social relations (personality) and as a unique unity of socially significant biological, social and psychological characteristics (individuality) . Such a comprehensive and balanced study of a person and his psyche, in fact, already merges with a systematic approach.

System Method - this is a methodological direction in the study of reality, considering any of its fragments as a system.

The most tangible impetus to the realization of the systems approach as an integral methodological and methodological component of scientific knowledge and to its rigorous scientific design was the work of the Austro-American scientist L. Bertalanffy, in which he developed a general theory of systems.

According to L. Bertalanffy, system there is a certain integrity that interacts with the environment and consists of many elements that are in certain relationships and connections with each other. The organization of these links between elements is called structure. Element- the smallest part of a system that retains its properties within the limits of this system. The system as a whole synthesizes (combines and generalizes) the properties of parts and elements, as a result of which it has properties of a higher level of organization, which, in interaction with other systems, can appear as its own. functions. Any system can be considered, on the one hand, as association of simpler (smaller) subsystems with its own properties and functions, and on the other - as a subsystem of more complex (large systems). For example, any living organism is a system of organs, tissues, cells. It is also an element of the corresponding population, which, in turn, is a subsystem of the animal or plant world, etc.

System research is carried out with the help of system analysis and synthesis. Description of objects as systems, i.e. system descriptions, perform the same functions as any other scientific descriptions: explanatory and predictive. But more importantly, system descriptions perform the function of integrating knowledge about objects. A systematic approach in psychology makes it possible to reveal the commonality of mental phenomena with other phenomena of reality. This makes it possible to enrich psychology with ideas, facts, methods of other sciences and, conversely, to penetrate psychological data into other areas of knowledge. It allows you to integrate and systematize psychological knowledge, eliminate redundancy in the accumulated information, reduce the volume and increase the clarity of descriptions, and reduce subjectivism in the interpretation of psychological phenomena. It helps to see gaps in knowledge about specific objects, detect their incompleteness, determine the tasks for further research, and sometimes predict the properties of objects about which there is no information, by extrapolating and interpolating the available information.

The previous approaches are actually organic components of the systems approach. Sometimes they are even considered as its varieties. Currently, most scientific research is carried out in line with a systematic approach.

Theme 6

Organization and conduct of empirical research in psychology

Choice of methods and development of research methods.

2. Organization of empirical research.

3. Stage of collecting empirical data.

4. Processing of empirical data. Interpretation and generalization of the research results.

5. Types of presentation of research results and requirements for them.

Choice of methods and development of research methodology.

The form of implementation of a particular method in a particular study, a set of techniques and operations, as well as the rules for collecting data and processing it is called research methodology.

The choice of methods and the development of a research methodology are entirely determined by the problem and the hypotheses formulated on its basis. This means that the methods of collecting and subsequent processing of information must be consistent with the concepts in which our hypothesis is formulated.

At the stage of method development, the research hypothesis is further refined. First of all, those manifestations, signs of the phenomenon under study, which are available for fixation, measurement, are clarified. Modern research is characterized A complex approach: not one method is used, but several mutually complementary methods and techniques that provide qualitative and quantitative data, information about subjective and objective parameters.

Observation- a method of collecting primary information, in addition, it underlies a number of other methods. Observation is most appropriate in the early stages of the study, when information is being collected, or at the end, when there is a question about the possible generalization of the results.

Test used where actual level measurement or testing is required.

Experiment is considered more appropriate when a specific causal relationship needs to be tested.

The main method of psychological research is experiment.

Psychological experiment- this is a joint activity of the subject and the experimenter, which is organized by the experimenter and is aimed at studying the characteristics of the psyche of the subjects.

Organization and conduct of empirical research.

The organization and conduct of empirical research is carried out according to the following plan:

Preparation of an empirical study;

Instructing and motivating the subjects;

Collection of empirical data;

The choice of methods of statistical processing, its implementation;

Interpretation of results and formulation of conclusions;

Presentation of the results of the study.

Preparation of an empirical study.

It includes the selection of a set of techniques and methods that correspond to the basic theoretical concept of the study, as well as the conceptual apparatus of the object, subject, goals, objectives and hypotheses of the study. Wherein all research methods should be:

- reliable. Reliability is the noise immunity of the technique, the independence of its results from the action of random factors, such as testing conditions (time of day, illumination, noise level), on the one hand, and the state of the subject, on the other. A reliable technique provides accurate information about the measured psychological quality. But even when using even a very reliable technique, it is necessary to strive for the experimental conditions to be normal, so that the study takes place in a separate, well-lit room, in the daytime, without extraneous noise, and the condition of the subject should be satisfactory, there should be no complaints on his part of fatigue, poor health, unwillingness to work;

- valid. Validity indicates the conformity of the test to the psychological quality being measured. The high validity of the technique shows that it measures exactly the psychological quality that its authors claim;

- representative. That is, designed specifically for the group of subjects that corresponds to the sample of the study.

All of the above criteria for the objectivity of tests are indicated either in the methodology itself, or they can be viewed in a psychodiagnostic dictionary.

In addition to the selection of research methods and techniques at this stage, the researcher prepares the experimental room and equipment, as well as forms the sample of the study.

The sampling must meet the following requirements:

- the criterion of equivalence of subjects or the criterion of internal validity. This means that in the groups of subjects compared with each other for a certain parameter (the variable being studied), all other indicators should be approximately the same. For example, if we compare two groups of students in terms of “goodwill”, then the subjects of each group should be equalized in terms of gender, age composition, socio-demographic characteristics, academic performance and other qualities important for the study;

- representativeness criterion, that is, the correspondence of the characteristics of the subjects of this sample to the characteristics of the representatives of the entire general population.

Since the subjects must be equal in age, gender, level of general development, social status, state of interpersonal relations and much more, in practice, as equivalent groups, they take a population of one class that is homogeneous in many respects, students of the same specialty, and then from this population respondents are chosen at random.

The sample size is determined by the objectives of the study and the branch of psychology in which the author works. For example, for research in the field of clinical psychology, the sample may include no more than 5-7 people. This is due to the difficulty of selecting equivalent groups of subjects in terms of the clinical picture of the disease. In developmental psychology, a sample usually includes up to 100 subjects. While in social psychology - their number can be 200-1000 people.

In a course study, the sample, as a rule, includes from 30 to 50 people, if differences are expected to be detected at a sufficiently high level of statistical significance (p≤0.01). Sometimes this number, for reasons beyond the control of the researcher, may be less, for example, students of one class (there are as many of them as there are students in the class, and there cannot be more).

At the stage of preparation for conducting an empirical study, aerobatic (or trial) experiment.

Its purpose:

Reveal weaknesses.

Determine the degree of compliance of the selected methods with what needs to be studied.

Develop research skills.

Get preliminary results.

Instructing and motivating the subjects.

The preparation of the experiment includes the development of instructions. Its purpose is to control the variables associated with the behavior of the subjects. The instruction should include a motivational component, that is, the subject should know what opportunities the participation in the experiment provides him. It could be:

Cash payment (characteristic of American and former Soviet psychology);

Information about his abilities and personality traits;

Help in solving personal problems, etc.

Also, with the help of the instruction, a positive attitude towards the study is ensured and ultra-high motivation is removed.

The instruction defines the task of the subject (what to do), indicates the sequence of his actions. Since the situation of the experiment is unusual for most of the subjects, they experience anxiety, their attention may be insufficient. Therefore, the instruction should be clear, concise, unambiguous. In order for it to meet these requirements, it needs to be tested, maybe more than once or twice. In addition, the speed of understanding the instruction depends on cognitive abilities, temperament, knowledge of the language, etc. Therefore, it should be checked whether the subjects understood the instructions correctly, however, avoiding additional detailed comments.

3. Empirical data collection stage.

General concept of data.

The process of direct research involves the contact of the researcher with the object, as a result of which totality characteristics this object. The obtained characteristics are the main material for testing the working hypothesis and solving the problem. Depending on the subject and purpose of the study, these characteristics can be presented in the form of various parameters of the object (spatial, temporal, energy, information, integration), in the form of relationships between parts of the object or itself with other objects, in the form of various dependences of its states on various factors etc. The totality of such information is called data about the object, or rather, primary data to emphasize the direct nature of this information and the need for their further analysis, processing, and comprehension.

AT theoretical study data collection means the search and selection of already known facts, their systematization, description from a new angle. AT empirical research data is understood as a reflection of objects, phenomena, features or relationships of objective reality. Thus, these are not the objects themselves, but their sensory-linguistic representations. Real objects are fragments of the world, and data about them is the foundation of science. These data are the "raw material" of scientific research with inductive hypotheses and the goal with deductive ones.

Data classification.

Data can be classified according to various bases (criteria), among which the most popular in science are the following:

Based on scientific reason

Scientific;

Unscientific.

scientific evidence- this is information obtained as a result of scientific research and is characterized by a high degree of reliability (proof and reliability), the possibility of verification, theoretical validity, inclusion in a wide system of scientific knowledge. A characteristic feature of scientific data, as well as scientific knowledge in general, is their relative truth, that is, the potential possibility of their refutation as a result of scientific criticism.

Unscientific data- information obtained by non-scientific means. For example, from everyday experience, from religious sources, from traditions, from authorities, etc. These data are not proven, often considered self-evident. Many of them claim to be absolute truth, their acceptance by the subject of knowledge is based on uncritical assimilation, trust (in their experience, dogmas, authorities).

Contribution to hypothesis testing and problem solving

Decisive;

Significant;

Minor.

Decisive data - This is information that allows you to unequivocally accept or reject the hypothesis put forward.

Significant Data- this is data that makes a significant contribution to the solution of the problem, but insufficient to solve it without the involvement of other information.

Minor data- data of low information content on the issue being solved.

By area and nature of information sources

Sociological;

Psychological;

Pedagogical;

Physiological, etc.

Sociological, psychological etc. - data obtained in the relevant spheres of life, in the first place - social life. In a narrow sense, these are the data of the corresponding sciences.

By research methods

Observation data;

Survey data;

Experimental data, etc.

Observation, survey data etc. - information obtained using one or another empirical method.

By methods combined with sources (classification by R.B. Cattell)

L-data;

Q-data;

T-data.

This grouping was proposed by the American psychologist R.B. Cattell in the middle of the 20th century and usually refers to data on personality problems and socio-psychological issues.

L-data- information obtained by registering the facts of real life. This is usually data from observations of the daily life of a person or group. With them it is recommended to start a preliminary solution to the problem.

Q-data- information obtained through questionnaires, interest tests, self-reports and other self-assessment methods, as well as through free examination of psychiatrists, teachers, etc. Due to the simplicity of the instrumentation and the ease of obtaining information, these data occupy a leading place in personality research.

T-data- information obtained through objective tests, as well as physiological measurements. These data are "objective" because they are obtained by objectively measuring a person's responses and behavior without recourse to self-assessment or expert judgment. For example, these are ability tests, intelligence tests, etc.

In terms of informativeness

non-metric

1. qualitative (classifying, nominative)

2. ordinal (comparative).

Metric

1. interval

2. proportional.

The division of data according to informativeness is based on the qualitative and quantitative load of their content, which allows this information to be correlated with each other with the information already available in this area at one or another level of accuracy. This grouping of data is consistent with the classification of measuring scales according to S. Stevens. It is considered in detail in the process of studying the methods of mathematical statistics.

Data collection procedure.

Data collection as a whole should correspond to the algorithm of actions outlined at the previous stage in order to avoid both a gap in the required knowledge and unnecessary labor costs. The contact of the researcher with the object under study, carried out at this stage, should not cause harm to the latter, the data collection procedure should be maximally humanized. The data collection process is specified depending on the chosen method and research objectives.

Since many studies, especially applied ones, are carried out in school classrooms, auditoriums and other poorly adapted premises, care must be taken that there are no strangers and no one enters during the experiment. The acquaintance of the experimenter with the subjects is obligatory.

The course of the experiment must be recorded. The protocol indicates: the name of the technique, full name, gender, education, date of the study. In addition to the answers of the subject, his questions, remarks, statements, changes in facial expressions and pantomimics are recorded in the protocol.

After the end of the experiment, the subject should be asked to express his impressions, thoughts, assumptions that arose during the experiment, answer options, etc. This self-report is an important source of quality knowledge. Oral self-report is preferable, it is more accessible to the subject.

For data collection, as a rule, several methods with high validity, expert assessments (for example, teachers), an observation map are used.

When developing the experimental methodology, maximum attention is paid to:

Determination of independent (cause) and dependent (effect) variables. Under independent variable is understood as a factor that changes the experimenter according to his plan. Under dependent variable- a factor that changes under the influence of an independent one and is subject to measurement. I distinguish two types of independent variables:

The variable itself;

Education of different groups of subjects: by age, gender, etc.

2. Determining the intensity levels of the variables. (For example: high, medium, low or yellow, green, blue, red, etc.).

3. Methods for measuring the effects obtained.

4. Determining the research procedure (the order in which variables change), etc.

The basic principle of experimentation is a variation of only one variable while maintaining the constancy of all others. Therefore, a decision is made in advance on how it will be isolated and recorded, what will be the procedure for its application. The control of side variables is also thought out - situational and personal, which can also influence the dependent variable. This control is ensured by the organization of the experiment itself and the processing of its results.

An experiment is conducted to test a hypothesis. She also defines his scheme. If the experiment is impossible, as a rule, a correlation study is carried out.

An experimental study implies the presence of at least two groups of subjects: control and experimental, in each of which a preliminary measurement of the studied property or phenomenon is made. Further, in the experimental group, an experimental effect is carried out, in the control group there is none. At the output, a post-experimental measurement is carried out to determine the presence of a shift in the studied trait in each of the groups. The presence of a statistically significant shift in the values ​​of the studied trait in the experimental group, in the absence of such in the control group, is attributed to the influence of the experimental variable. If there is a statistically significant shift in both groups, then a determination is made where its significance is higher, which also makes it possible to prove the influence of experimental exposure.

A correlation study can be carried out even in one group of subjects by measuring two or more variables and determining their relationship with each other.