Russian version of the article

DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2016-2-111-119

THE SPECIFICITY OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL OBSERVATION

Nenashev Mikhail Ivanovich
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Professor of Department of Sociology
and Social Psychology

Vyatka State University,
36, Moskovskaya str., Kirov, 610000, Russia;
e-mail: mnenashev@inbox.ru

The article reveals a logical vulnerability of definitions of sociological observation in domestic literature, which actually also suitable for observation in physics, astronomy, biology, and focuses on the characteristics of observation as a method of knowledge in sociology. Sociological observation in a broad sense, in the form of fixing the position of affairs in society by means of a questionnaire, interview, content analysis or any other method, and sociological observation itself, is perceived when the behavior of people in physical space and time to define their relationships in the social space distinguished are. Probabilistic nature of this method of study is noted.

Analysing the specific situation of sociological observation, it is shown that the observation is capable with any degree of accuracy to replace polling methods, in particular, such as sociometric survey or questionnaire.

It is indicated that the problem of the influence of the act of observation on the observed situation is actually lifted by the transformation of this act in familiar and routine procedure to observe. Much more important is the inevitable problem of selective observation, which is dictated by the fact that the theory that guides the researcher determines what he sees as reality. It is shown that the solution to this problem is seen in the way of synthesis the paintings of reality that are defined by different theoretical settings, up to mutually exclusive, and relying on common sense.

Key words: sociological observation; physical space and time; social space; social reality; standardised observation; non-standardised observation participant observation; uninvolved observation; selectivity of observation; sociometric survey; the understanding; measurement, theory.

References

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The date of the manuscript receipt 31.01.2016

Please cite this article in English as:

Nenashev M.I. The specificity of the sociological observation // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2016. Iss. 2(26). P. 111–119. doi: 10.17072/2078-7898/2016-2-111-119