"Parallel Petersburg" by Veronica Kostenko

Veronica Kostenko participated in the 6th annual conference called “Contemporary sociology to modern Russia” ad memoriam of A. Kryshtanovsky, which took place HSE in Moscow.

Veronica Kostenko, junior research fellow of the LCSR, participated in the 6th annual conference called “Contemporary sociology to modern Russia” ad memoriam of A. Kryshtanovsky, which took place HSE in Moscow from the 1^st till the 3^rd of February, 2012. Veronika shared her impressions:

- Veronica, why did you decide to speak at this conference?

I decided to participate as this conference is focused on sociological methodology. The method I wanted to report on and discuss with colleagues in Moscow was tested by our research team during the project “Parallel Petersburg”. Besides this, my report precisely corresponded with the topic of the conference section – “Qualitative methods in research of the life strategies”.

- What was your report about?

I presented a collective project that was conducted in SESL HSE. My report was about collective video interview method. This approach is quite counterintuitive. According to this method, it is supposed that teenagers (migrant chidren specifically in our case)talk about themselves on public (classmates) using an element of theatricality (make-up, light, camera). High school students interviewed each other with a little help from researches. Teenagers got really carried away with this game, and in the result we received very detailed and deep interviews.

- Who participated in this conference?

There were a great number of well-known sociologists not only from HSE, but also from other universities and institutes. Many prominent scholars, such as Vladimir Yadov, Vadim Radaev. AlexanderChepurenko and others delivered their lectures at the plenary session. On my section, which was supervised by I. Kozina, many famed sociologists who use qualitative methods predominantely were presenting. (E. Omelchenko, I. Tartakovskaya, E. Rozhdesvenskaya)

- What were the topics covered in the reports of other participants?

In addition to the section on qualitative methods, I attended the section on social networks. Some of the reports there were deeply mathematical, others were focused on empirical results of applying network analysis, on data mining, etc.

- How do you think, was there a common interest that connected the participants of the conference?

I think that the most important thing was an opportunity to see what kind of research your colleagues do in various places, to discuss the topics of interest. Also, it was extremely important to consult on solving actual problems and, for example, to think on joint projects.

- Veronica, would you like to advise you colleagues to take part in this conference the next time?

Sure, it is a great experience! The conference is the place where you can understand how your own research fits into contemporary Russian sociology.

Olga Basmanova