Methodology is a doctrine that explores the process of organizing activities. The study is carried out sequentially. In the structure of cognition, the levels of research methodology are distinguished. Let's take a closer look at them.
General information
E. G. Yudin singled out:
- Philosophical level of methodology. He is considered the highest.
- General scientific level of methodology. Within its framework, theoretical provisions are formed that are applied in almost all disciplines.
- Specific scientific level. Here is formed a set of methods and principles used in a particular discipline.
- Technological level. Here a set of procedures is created to ensure the receipt of reliable material and the primary processing of data.
All levels of scientific methodology are interconnected in a certain way. All of them have a planned independent movement.
Philosophical level
It performs the function of a meaningful foundation. Its essence is formed by the general principles of cognitive activity and the categorical structure of the entire industry as a whole. It is presented in the form of philosophical knowledge and developed using specificmethods. There is no rigid system of technical methods or norms that leads to the dogmatization of knowledge. The structure consists of guidelines and prerequisites for activity. These include:
- Content factors. They represent the ideological foundations of thinking.
- Formal prerequisites. They refer to general forms of thinking, a historically defined categorical apparatus.
Functions
Philosophy plays a dual role in methodology:
- It expresses constructive criticism of knowledge in terms of the boundaries and conditions of its use, the adequacy of its foundation and general directions of development. It stimulates intradisciplinary reflection, ensures the formulation of new problems, and contributes to the search for approaches to the objects of study.
- Within the framework of philosophy, a worldview interpretation of the results of cognition is created from the point of view of a specific picture of the world. It acts as a starting point for any serious study, a necessary substantive prerequisite for the existence and development of a theory and its embodiment into something integral.
System approach
It reflects the universal connection and mutual conditioning of the processes and phenomena of the surrounding reality. The systems approach orients the theorist and practitioner to the need to consider events as structures that have their own patterns of functioning and their own structure. Its essence lies in the fact that relatively isolated elements are considered not autonomously, but in interconnection, inmovement and development. This approach makes it possible to detect the integrative properties of the system and qualitative characteristics that are absent from the elements separately.
Levels of pedagogy methodology
To use a systematic approach, it is necessary to implement the principle of unity of educational theory, practice and experiment. Pedagogical experience acts as an effective criterion for the truth of provisions, knowledge, developed and tested at the empirical level. Practice also becomes a source of new educational problems. Therefore, the theoretical and experimental levels of the methodology of science make it possible to find the right solutions. However, the global problems that arise in the practice of education give rise to new questions. They, in turn, require fundamental study.
Relevance of problems
Methodological issues of pedagogy and psychology have always been considered the most relevant. The study of the phenomena occurring in the educational process from the standpoint of dialectics makes it possible to reveal their qualitative originality, interrelations with other events. According to the principles of the theory, training, development, education of future specialists are studied in relation to specific conditions of professional activity and social life.
Knowledge Integration
Considering the levels of methodology, one cannot but say in detail about their role in determining the prospects for the development of the discipline. This is primarily due to the presence of noticeable trendsto the integration of knowledge, a comprehensive assessment of the phenomena of objective reality. Today, the boundaries that separate the levels of methodology are often rather arbitrary. In social disciplines, for example, data from mathematics and cybernetics are used. Information from other sciences is also used, which did not previously claim to implement methodological tasks in a particular public research. Relations between disciplines and directions have been significantly strengthened. The boundaries between educational theory and the general psychological concept of personality, between pedagogy and physiology, and so on, are becoming increasingly conventional.
Complication of disciplines
Methodological levels are undergoing qualitative changes today. This is due to the development of disciplines, the formation of new facets of the subject of study. In this situation, it is necessary to maintain a balance. On the one hand, it is important not to lose the subject of study - directly psychological and pedagogical problems. At the same time, it is necessary to direct concrete knowledge to the solution of fundamental issues.
Distance of directions
Today, the gap between philosophical and methodological issues and the direct methodology of psychological and educational knowledge is becoming more and more obvious. As a result, specialists increasingly go beyond the study of a particular subject. Thus, a kind of intermediate levels of methodology arise. There are some real issues here. However, they have not yet been resolved by philosophy. In this regard, it becomes necessary to completevacuum concepts and positions. They will make it possible to advance in the improvement of the direct methodology of psychological and pedagogical knowledge.
Application of mathematical data
Psychology and pedagogy today act as a kind of testing ground for applying the methods used in exact disciplines. This, in turn, is the strongest stimulus for the development of mathematical sections. In the course of this process of objective growth, the introduction of elements of absolutization of quantitative methods of research to the detriment of qualitative assessments is inevitable. This trend is especially pronounced in foreign educational disciplines. There, mathematical statistics often acts as a universal solution to all problems. This is due to the following. Qualitative analysis in the framework of psychological and pedagogical research often leads to conclusions that are unacceptable to power structures. At the same time, the quantitative approach makes it possible to achieve concrete results in practice, provides ample opportunities for ideological manipulation both within these disciplines and beyond.
Role of a person
In professional activity, the subject acts as a determining link. This position follows from the general sociological pattern of increasing the role of the human factor in history, social development within the framework of social progress. At the same time, while accepting this statement at the level of abstraction, a number of researchers deny it in this or that situation. Increasingly, in recent times, the view has been expressed thatIn the "man-machine" system, a specialist is a less reliable element. Often this circumstance leads to a one-sided interpretation of the relationship between the individual and technology in the labor process. In such subtle questions, the truth must be sought both at the psychological and educational, and at the philosophical and social levels.
Conclusion
The methodology of pedagogy implements descriptive, that is, descriptive, and prescriptive (normative) functions. Their presence determines the differentiation of the foundations of the discipline into two categories. Theoretical include:
- Defining the methodology.
- General characteristics of the discipline.
- Description of levels.
- Characterization of the sources of providing the cognitive process.
- Subject and object of analysis.
Regulatory grounds cover:
- Scientific knowledge within pedagogy.
- Certain affiliations of educational activities to the discipline. In particular, this refers to the nature of goal-setting, the use of special cognitive tools, the selection of the object of study, the unambiguity of concepts.
- Typology of research.
- Knowledge properties that can be used to compare and analyze work.
- The logic of research.
These grounds outline the objective area of the cognitive process. The results obtained can act as sources of replenishment of the content of the methodology itself and the methodological reflection of a specialist.
