Dembitskyi S. Development of Sociological Tests: Methodology and Practices of Its Application

The dissertation showcases the author's approach to measuring in sociology, based on the following methodological assumptions: 1) in the case of measurement whose the subject is social phenomena, the reasoning about some true value is rather problematic; 2) the value of the variable obtained for the measurement of a social phenomenon is conditioned primarily by two main sources – the dominant discourse of an individual and the surrounding social reality; 3) psychological characteristics of an individual, that is, the established properties of a personality acquired in the process of socialization, should be considered the remnants or random variable; 4) satisfactorily accurate information subjected to meaningful sociological interpretation can only be obtained through sociological tests that have undergone the necessary theoretical and empirical validation. The process of developing sociological tests is described; it consists of the theoretical validation of a sociological test, the choice of its type, empirical validation, and the development of norms or criterion levels. The peculiarities of measuring individual wellbeing are considered. Within this part of the work, the SCL-9-NR sociological test is developed, and the use of the L-scale (MMPI), the Integral Index of Social Wellbeing, and of the methods of measuring personal wellbeing in the European Social Survey (scales of emotional wellbeing, vigor, and functionality) is analyzed. The peculiarities of measuring political culture are also studied. Within this part of the work, sociological tests “Types of Political Culture – II”, EU-geopol and RF-geopol are developed, and the use of the sociological test “Types of Political Culture – II” is analyzed. The experience of developing sociological tests is summed up, the principles and techniques of their development are given. The development of complex measuring instruments in the mixed-type studies is considered (a comparative analysis of existing approaches is carried out), and the development of sociological tests within quantitative studies is surveyed (the procedures that have passed the conceptual and methodological review are described). Recommendations for the development of sociological tests are suggested.