An empirical study of the nature of the relationship between indicators of subjectivity and professional identity. Theoretical and empirical levels of research Analysis of empirical research

Empirical knowledge is knowledge that identifies and describes facts and answers the question “how.” Theoretical knowledge is essential knowledge that answers the question “why”, the question about internal reasons phenomena, which ultimately makes it possible to control the phenomena and events being studied, accelerate their arrival or, conversely, delay and prevent them, as well as predict fundamentally new facts.

Empirical knowledge to a greater extent requires formal logic, theoretical knowledge also - and first of all - substantive logic. Empirical knowledge is fundamentally necessary, since theoretical, categorical analysis must necessarily be based on empirical knowledge. However, one cannot imagine that the transition from empirical to theoretical knowledge is simple and formal: it is enough, supposedly, to accumulate the required number of empirical facts and this alone will provide a new quality of knowledge. The fact is that theoretical knowledge is not derived from empirical knowledge in a formal logical way; it is derived by dialectical thinking, which processes empirical knowledge into theoretical knowledge. And this processing is associated primarily with finding the essence, with the emergence of an idea about this. Let us dwell on the division of all methods into two large groups - empirical and theoretical methods. Methods of empirical and theoretical knowledge are schematically presented in Fig. 2. Empirical methods (observation, modeling, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, etc.) do not follow from the essence of the object, and therefore contain a lot subjective moments. But they are such only if they do not, as a necessary element, fall within the scope of the system of theoretical methods, which are built on the unity of subject and method. Since theoretical methods (idea, hypothesis, theory) act as a way for the subject to organize his activity in accordance with the essence of the subject, empirical methods involved in the scope of the theory receive direction and objectivity within it.

Let's look at the features of some methods scientific knowledge. The relationship between general scientific methods can also be presented in the form of a diagram in Fig. 3.

Figure 2. Methods of empirical and theoretical knowledge

Figure 3. Correlation of general scientific methods

Analysis and synthesis. Empirical analysis is simply the decomposition of a whole into its constituent, simpler elementary parts. Synthesis, on the contrary, is the combination of components of a complex phenomenon. Theoretical analysis involves highlighting the basic and essential in an object, imperceptible to empirical vision. Analytical method At the same time, it includes the results of abstraction, simplification, and formalization. Theoretical synthesis is an expanding knowledge that constructs something new that goes beyond the existing framework.

Induction and deduction. Induction can be defined as a method of moving from knowledge of individual facts to knowledge of general facts. Deduction is a method of moving from knowledge general patterns to their private manifestation. Theoretical induction and deduction based on it differ from empirical induction and deduction in that they are based not on the search for the abstract-general, the same in different objects and facts (“All swans are white”), but on the search for the concrete-universal, on the search for law existence and development of the system under study.

Abstraction is a method that comes down to abstraction in the process of cognition from some properties of an object for the purpose of in-depth study of one specific aspect of it. The result of abstraction is the development of abstract concepts that characterize objects from different sides.

In the process of cognition, a technique such as analogy is also used - an inference about the similarity of objects in a certain respect based on their similarity in a number of other respects. Associated with this technique is a modeling method that has become particularly widespread in modern conditions. This method is based on the principle of similarity. Its essence lies in the fact that it is not the object itself that is directly studied, but its analogue, its substitute, its model, and then the results obtained from studying the model are transferred to the object itself according to special rules. Modeling is used in cases where the object itself is either difficult to access, or its direct study is not economically profitable, etc. There are a number of types of modeling:

• 1) Subject modeling, in which the model reproduces the geometric, physical, dynamic or functional characteristics of an object.
• 2) Analog modeling, in which the model and the original are described by a single mathematical relationship.
• 3) Sign modeling, in which diagrams, drawings, and formulas act as models.
• 4) Mental modeling is closely related to the iconic, in which models acquire a mentally visual character.
• 5) Finally, a special type of modeling is the inclusion in the experiment not of the object itself, but of its model, due to which the latter acquires the character of a model experiment. This type of modeling indicates that there is no hard line between the methods of empirical and theoretical knowledge. Idealization is organically connected with modeling - the mental construction of concepts, theories about objects that do not exist and cannot be realized in reality, but those for which there is a close prototype or analogue in the real world. All sciences operate with this kind of ideal objects - an ideal gas, an absolutely black body, a socio-economic formation, a state, etc.

Let's consider methods of theoretical knowledge. The idea as a form of knowledge, first of all, is the unity of the objective and subjective. Objective reality is not simply reflected in the idea, but also, as it were, mentally completed in it, namely: the existing is completed to what it should be. “An idea is an “invented”, “seen” (i.e., found so far only in consciousness), a possible way out of the current contradictory situation - beyond the existing state of affairs and the concepts that express it.” At the starting point and at the end of its formation, the idea is the unity of the subjective and objective. And in relation to theory, it is its embryo and a kind of bridge between the empirical and the theoretical. The idea expresses the creative, transformative nature of human thinking. Expressing the needs and interests of people, it acts as a program and method for their theoretical and practical activities.

Hypothesis. The development of an idea first necessarily takes the form of a hypothesis. A person moves from one level of mastering reality to another, and the contradiction between these levels forces him to look for more and more new ideas, try to substantiate and systematize them. And it is precisely this contradiction that gives the hypothesis an objective and absolutely necessary character. In other words, the hypothesis is fundamentally irremovable from the process of development of knowledge. The hypothesis contains both reliable and unreliable, proven and unproven points. This distinguishes it from a theory, which is reliable and scientifically proven.

Theory. Noting such important features of a theory as systematicity, completeness, reliability, formal consistency, the presence of a set of conclusions, etc., it is important to emphasize the presence in it of initial concepts on which all its development is based, the unfolding of the diverse into a certain unity, the identification of universal conditions spiritually the concrete integrity it reproduces.

And yet, the most profound difference between a theory and a hypothesis and empirical generalization lies in the particularity of the practice that lies at its basis, gives it the direction of development and tests its conclusions.

Of course, practice and theory in their development condition and support each other, interact with each other, however, not every practice gives rise to the need for theory, but only practice that has reached the state of holistic objective activity, focused not just on the transformation of things, the natural forms of objects, but to transform processes, internal relationships of systems of these objects. This practice has been historically formed since the emergence of capitalist production, and with it science emerges as a special form of social consciousness.

scientific modeling cognition

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Books

• , Yakovlev Andrey Aleksandrovich, Demidova Olga Anatolyevna, Podkolzina Elena Anatolyevna, Balaeva Olga Nikolaevna. The monograph is devoted to the analysis of the development of the Russian public procurement system during the period of the Government Procurement Law No. 94-FZ, which became the basis for radical regulatory reform...
• Empirical analysis of the public procurement system in Russia, Andrey Aleksandrovich Yakovlev, Olga Anatolyevna Demidova, Elena Anatolyevna Podkolzina, Olga Nikolaevna Balaeva. The monograph is devoted to the analysis of the development of the Russian public procurement system during the period of the Government Procurement Law 94-FZ, which became the basis for a radical reform of the regulation of the sphere...

It is opposed to a priori, pre-experimental knowledge, accessible through purely speculative thinking.

Meanings of the concept

Empirical evidence is information that supports the belief that a statement is true or false. From the point of view of empiricism, one can claim knowledge of something only if one has a true idea based on empirical data. This position differs from the rationalist approach, in which the proof of the truth or falsity of a certain proposition can be an inference. The main source of empirical data is sensory perception. Although other sources of evidence, such as memory and the testimony of others, ultimately come down to sensory perception, they are considered secondary, or indirect.

In another sense, the expression "empirical data" means the result of an experiment. In this context, the concept of “semi-empirical methods” is also used - clarifying theoretical methods in which, along with the results of experiments, basic axioms or postulated scientific laws are used.

The problem of neutrality of empirical knowledge

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Bird, Alexander . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy(2013). Retrieved January 25, 2012.
• Craig, Edward (2005), "a posteriori", The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, ISBN 9780415324953

• Feldman, Richard (2001), "Evidence", in Audi, Robert, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy(2nd ed.), Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521637220

• Kuhn Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. - 2nd. - Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. - ISBN 978-0226458045.
• Pickett, Joseph P., ed. (2011), "Empirical", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language(5th ed.), Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-547-04101-8

Excerpt characterizing empirical data

In June, the Battle of Friedland took place, in which the Pavlograd residents did not participate, and after it a truce was declared. Rostov, who deeply felt the absence of his friend, having had no news about him since his departure and worrying about the progress of his case and his wounds, took advantage of the truce and asked to go to the hospital to visit Denisov.
The hospital was located in a small Prussian town, twice devastated by the Russians and French troops. Precisely because it was in the summer, when it was so nice in the field, this place, with its broken roofs and fences and its dirty streets, ragged inhabitants and drunken and sick soldiers wandering around it, presented a particularly gloomy sight.
In a stone house, in a courtyard with the remains of a dismantled fence, some broken frames and glass, there was a hospital. Several bandaged, pale and swollen soldiers walked and sat in the courtyard in the sun.
As soon as Rostov entered the door of the house, he was overwhelmed by the smell of a rotting body and a hospital. On the stairs he met a Russian military doctor with a cigar in his mouth. A Russian paramedic followed the doctor.
“I can’t burst,” said the doctor; - Come to Makar Alekseevich in the evening, I’ll be there. – The paramedic asked him something else.
- Eh! do as you please! Doesn't it matter? - The doctor saw Rostov climbing the stairs.
- Why are you here, your honor? - said the doctor. - Why are you here? Or the bullet didn’t kill you, so you want to get typhus? Here, father, is the house of lepers.
- From what? - asked Rostov.
- Typhus, father. Whoever rises will die. Only the two of us with Makeyev (he pointed to the paramedic) are chatting here. At this point, about five of our brother doctors died. “Whatever the new guy does, he’ll be ready in a week,” the doctor said with visible pleasure. “They called Prussian doctors, because our allies don’t like that.”
Rostov explained to him that he wanted to see the hussar major Denisov lying here.
- I don’t know, I don’t know, father. Just think, I have three hospitals for one person, 400 patients are too many! It’s also good, the Prussian ladies who are benefactors send us coffee and lint at two pounds a month, otherwise they would be lost. - He laughed. – 400, father; and they keep sending me new ones. After all, there are 400? A? – he turned to the paramedic.
The paramedic looked exhausted. He was apparently waiting with annoyance to see how soon the chattering doctor would leave.
“Major Denisov,” Rostov repeated; – he was wounded near Moliten.
- It seems he died. Eh, Makeev? – the doctor asked the paramedic indifferently.
The paramedic, however, did not confirm the doctor’s words.
- Why is he so long and reddish? - asked the doctor.
Rostov described Denisov's appearance.
“There was, there was one,” the doctor said as if joyfully, “this one must have died, but I can handle it, I had the lists.” Do you have it, Makeev?
“Makar Alekseich has the lists,” said the paramedic. “Come to the officers’ chambers, you’ll see for yourself there,” he added, turning to Rostov.
“Eh, it’s better not to go, father,” said the doctor, “otherwise you might end up staying here.” “But Rostov bowed to the doctor and asked the paramedic to accompany him.
“Don’t blame me too much,” the doctor shouted from under the stairs.
Rostov and the paramedic entered the corridor. The hospital smell was so strong in this dark corridor that Rostov grabbed his nose and had to stop to gather his strength and move on. A door opened to the right, and a thin, yellow man, barefoot and wearing only underwear, leaned out on crutches.
He leaned against the lintel and looked at those passing by with shining, envious eyes. Looking through the door, Rostov saw that the sick and wounded were lying there on the floor, on straw and overcoats.
-Can I come in and have a look? - asked Rostov.
- What should I watch? - said the paramedic. But precisely because the paramedic obviously did not want to let him in, Rostov entered the soldiers’ chambers. The smell he had already smelled in the corridor was even stronger here. This smell has changed somewhat here; he was sharper, and one could feel that this was where he came from.
In a long room, brightly lit by the sun in big windows, in two rows, with their heads to the walls and leaving a passage in the middle, lay the sick and wounded. Most of them were in oblivion and did not pay attention to those who entered. Those who were in memory all stood up or raised their thin, yellow faces, and everyone with the same expression of hope for help, reproach and envy of someone else’s health, without taking their eyes off, looked at Rostov. Rostov went out into the middle of the room, looked into the neighboring rooms with open doors, and saw the same thing on both sides. He stopped, silently looking around him. He never expected to see this. In front of them lay almost across the middle aisle, on the bare floor, a sick man, probably a Cossack, because his hair was cut into a brace. This Cossack was lying on his back, with his huge arms and legs outstretched. His face was crimson red, his eyes were completely rolled back, so that only the whites were visible, and on his bare feet and on his hands, which were still red, the veins were strained like ropes. He hit the back of his head on the floor and said something hoarsely and began repeating the word. Rostov listened to what he was saying and made out the word he was repeating. The word was: drink - drink - drink! Rostov looked around, looking for someone who could put this patient in his place and give him water.

Various methods are used. Empirical research is a separate group of methods that includes indirect or direct collection of data obtained during the study of a phenomenon. Other methods include organizational, interpretive, and data processing methods. It should also be noted that it is important to distinguish scientific empirical research from theoretical research.

Differences between empirical and theoretical research

Literally, “empirical” means “obtained empirically,” that is, empirical research - specific data obtained during the study of an object. Thus, in empirical research there is direct contact between the researcher and the object being studied. Theoretical research occurs, roughly speaking, at the mental level. Empirical cognition mainly uses experiment and observation of real objects (direct influence or observation of the phenomena being studied) as the main ones. Empirical research is, first of all, the maximum exclusion of the influence of subjective components on the result of cognition. Theoretical knowledge in this regard is characterized by greater subjectivity, operating with ideal images and objects.

The structure of the empirical method of cognition

Included in the empirical scientific research includes study methods (observation and experiments); the results obtained through these methods (factual data); various procedures for translating the obtained results (“raw data”) into patterns, dependencies, facts. empirical research is not simply conducting an experiment; this is a complex process in which scientific hypotheses are confirmed or refuted, new patterns are identified, etc.

Stages of empirical research

Empirical research, like any other method, consists of several steps, each of which is important for obtaining objective data. Let us list the main stages of empirical research. After the goal has been set, the research objectives have been formulated, and a hypothesis has been put forward, the researcher proceeds directly to the process of obtaining facts. This is the first stage of empirical research, when observational or experimental data are recorded in the process of work. At this stage, the results obtained are strictly evaluated; the experimenter tries to make the data as objective as possible, clearing them of side effects.

At the second stage of the empirical study, the results obtained during the first stage are processed. At this stage, the results undergo primary processing in order to find various patterns and connections. Here the data is classified, attributed to various types, describe the results obtained using special scientific terminology. Thus, empirical research of any phenomenon or object is extremely informative. In the course of such knowledge of reality, it is possible to derive important patterns, create a certain classification, and identify obvious connections between objects.

Since the birth of empirical psychology, the main task of this direction has been observation and identification of psychic facts, as well as the principles of their mutual connection.

Thus, empirical psychology places emphasis on specific phenomena of mental life and human states, and not on the immortal soul.

Definition of basic concepts

Empiricism- what it is? This is a direction in philosophy that denies any sources of knowledge other than sensory (direct) experience.

Empiricism in psychology suggests that people gain most of their knowledge through study and experience rather than through genetic predisposition.

Empiricists (empiricists)- who are they? These are supporters of the epistemological position, in which knowledge is considered reliable only when it is based on experience.

Empiricists are inclined to practical activity, believing that activity is a direct path to obtaining a result.

Empirically- through experience, experiment or personal observation.

Empirical material- any material collected empirically or through personal observation/data collection.

Empirical thinking- thinking, the product of which is the primary generalization of experience gained through practice. This is a simple stage of knowledge that does not delve into theoretical knowledge.

Empirical thinking is often confused with practical thinking, but they are actually two different categories.

Empirical generalization- creating certain conclusions or highlighting the properties of objects according to a single common feature, expressed in verbal form. Creating classifications by properties allows you to work with a large volume of units (objects or facts).

Empirical observation- one of the methods of empirical research, expressed in the deliberate and directed perception of any subject (object) of knowledge in order to obtain information about its qualities, properties and relationships.

Empirical analysis— analysis of an object based on sensory perception and personal experience.

Empirical method- a method of research through observations and experiments with further identification of patterns.

Empirical evidence- information confirming or refuting the belief in the veracity of any judgments. All evidence is based primarily on feelings.

Empirical verification- a method in which the object of study is subjected to systematic observation in order to obtain reliable information.

Empirical evidence in psychology- data obtained through the senses, experimentally.

In psychology, this is material collected after direct observation or experimentation, without accompanying theoretical inference.

Empirical and theoretical thinking

In the history of psychological knowledge there occurred dividing conceptual thinking into two categories.

Theoretical and empirical thinking is distinguished as two concepts opposed to each other.

The first type of thinking is aimed at identifying, recording and describing the results of sensory experience and is called empirical.

Another type of thinking works with the essence of subjects, hidden and inaccessible to the senses and the laws of development. This type is called theoretical.

Both empirical and theoretical thinking take as a basis a special type of abstraction and generalization. For the empirical level, this is a comparison of individual qualities of objects and the search for differences between them based on the identified qualities.

Those. First, formally similar features are identified, which can be assigned the status of “common”. Then they are separated from others, fixed using a word-concept. The result is knowledge based on external (visual) evidence.

The empirical type of thinking does not imply an analysis of the characteristics of the object itself, the connection of its sides, hidden from the senses. Thought moves in the direction from the particular to the general, without delving into the nature of objects.

Theoretical thinking works with specific features, identifying the basis for the unity of entire systems.

Psychology

Classical empirical psychology differs from the concept of “empirical” as used today.

It is based on the idea that science needs to move away from discussions about the soul and move on to the study of mental phenomena.

Classical empirical psychology of consciousness is within the framework of the position in which ideas arise in experience. This direction does not study mental phenomena through an empirical approach.

It does not require experimental research. And the data obtained by sensory study or introspection/observation are only valid as examples. In this school, the point of view extends only to the source of ideas.

Supporters of this trend in psychology believe that mental processes cannot be subject to objective study through introspection, since for each individual mental experiences will be individual and cannot act as a universal template.

Questionnaire

They take as a basis observational data and other methods.

Then, based on this information, questionnaires are compiled.

Types of questionnaires in psychology:

• direct (questions imply a free and conscious response on the part of the subject being questioned);
• selective (the subject chooses the most suitable/closest answer from a ready-made list);
• scale questionnaires (the subject evaluates the correctness of certain answer statements using the scoring method).

Conversation

During the conversation, participants enter into dialogue. One of the participants in the dialogue is subjects. Second participant identifies psychological reactions and characteristics of the subject, and then records them.

Survey

During the survey, the subject gives answers to questions addressed to him, which help identify psychological characteristics individual.

Types of surveys:

• oral;
• writing;
• free;
• according to given standards.

What does the principle of determinism mean in psychology? you will find on our website.

Test

Tests apply for accurate specifications(expressed in quality and quantity).

The method implies a clearly established model for the collection and subsequent processing of the obtained data.

• test questionnaire;
• test tasks.

Experiment

Method psychological research, in which a situation is formed that promotes the manifestation of the personal psychological properties of the object being studied.

Types of experiments:

• natural;
• laboratory.

Modeling

Creating a model which repeats key features the phenomenon being studied in order to conduct an observation (in the absence of the opportunity to study a real prototype).

Sociometry

Study of the group on the subject (as an example of the structure of relationships and compatibility).

According to Ananyev to observational research methods include observation, experiment, psychodiagnostics, praxiometric method, modeling, biographical method.

The empirical method includes all of the above methods.

Structure of knowledge in brief

The structure of empirical knowledge contains 4 levels:

1. First level. Single or protocol utterances, whether they contain a condition of existence or not. In such protocols, time and place must be recorded as observation conditions.
2. Second level. The level is based on facts (general statements in static or universal form). They record information about the absence or presence certain events, properties, relationships, etc. in the plane under study. Quantitative parameters of recorded data are also subject to registration.
3. Third level. The basis of the level is empirical laws, which are characterized by temporal and/or spatial constancy.
4. Fourth (highest) level. Phenomenological theories or a set of interconnected laws and facts.

Thanks to the empirical school, psychology moved away from the speculative analysis of the psyche and took a step towards experimental methods of studying it. This gave rise to many discoveries in the field of psychological life.

Empirical methods of cognition: