Shevchuk S. Human Geography in Ukraine (theory and practice of scientific school research).

To achieve research goals the author reveals the nature of social and geographical schools and gives grounds for the theoretical approaches and methodological foundations of the study. The thesis defines the topicality and importance of the research. The author classifies the schools of human geography in Ukraine and highlights the leading research schools which are considered to be the recognized scientific mainstreams, scientific and educational research schools and school groups. The classification introduces different levels of research according to the functioning of scientific schools: source critical, factual, empirical, theoretical, scientific, and prognostic. The study determines the methodological bases of research on the process of forming human and geographical schools and the main stages and methods of identifying research schools which are based on the formal and substantive criteria. The author puts a great number of archival documents and materials into the scientific discourse and defines the new approach to study the development of human geography in Ukraine.