Nonlinear Biographical Analysis of B.Z. Doktorov: Organizational and Methodical Techniques

The article is dedicated to the organizational and methodological specifics of implementing the authorial historical and scientific project of B.Z. Doctorov, carried out using the methodology of non-linear biographical analysis. The aim of this project is to study the biographies of sociologists in the history of Soviet/Russian sociology and its own history in biographies. The first part of the paper describes stages of recruitment and defines organizational procedures: selection of information sources, processuality in justifying methodological decisions, ways of achieving validity, the logic of processing and storing obtained data. The parameters of the sample population are defined by a narrow circle of the studied set, which includes leading representatives of sociological science. In the second part of the article a number of methodical techniques for conducting interviews are identified: non-formalization of the mental plan of the conversation, flexibility of interaction, intensity of communication mode, mediated by communication technologies. The variety of interview formats made for a frank conversation where the central theme was the scientist’s own life and career. The soft-talk narrative technique does not require supporting facts with documentary references, checking the sequence of events under consideration, or unambiguously characterizing circumstances. The advantages of e-mail as a communication technology used during biographical interviews are emphasized. The information collection procedures indicate the positive influence of B.Z. Doctorov’s personal relationships and professional connections with his informants, and their participation in the self-analysis of the biographical narrative directly during the interview. Due to the large volumes of accumulated biographical materials, their systematization, cataloguing and archiving into an electronic database is becoming a relevant matter, though such a database has yet to be created. It would allow not only to preserve these materials, but also to execute the necessary navigation. The openness of B.Z. Doctorov’s methodological position clarifies the initial premises of his research, makes analytical moves transparent, and outlines the framework of the subject field of interest. The findings are based on the fact that the phenomenological basis in nonlinear biographical analysis predetermined the optimal methods for collecting information, techniques of respondent selection, interview guide blocks, and ways of archiving data.

nonlinear biographical analysis, logical validity, processuality of methodological decisions, nonformalized interview, mode of communication