Publications
The Rasch/Guttman scenario (RGS) measurement approach is a promising test development methodology. The purpose of this study is to compare the RGS measure of primary school students’ motivation against more traditional self-report scales. The Scenario Scale of Extrinsic Motivation toward Math (SSEM-M) and its traditional counterpart was developed. The sample consisted of 1,299 primary school students. Both measures demonstrated solid psychometric properties and sound evidence of validity. The comparative part of the research revealed notable differences in scores and factor structure. Scenario item composition appears to provide a slightly better motivation measurement than traditional composition. Further research considering response style and social desirability effects may be of interest.
In this article, we feature a novel protocol that enables the analysis of repeated measures of online group behavior. The protocol accounts for (1) the nested hierarchy of the data with weeks nested in persons, and persons nested in weeks, and (2) the temporal nature of the behavior at the early, mid, and late periods of each week. To manage and analyze such data in a general way, we first give an illustration of the data structure. Thereafter, we propose a five-step Courtney-Fanguy-Costley protocol that (1) considers the data structure, (2) defines the levels of data, (3) considers variable variation, timing, and necessary aggregation, (4) ensures necessary variation, and (5) specifies null and mixed-effects models. We also provide exemplary R code for readers to replicate our approach.
• A general five-step protocol for analyzing repeated measures of online group behavior is offered.
• A description of the complex nested data structure is offered.
• Users can simulate data in R to run through the protocol.
Many terms used both in sociology and lay discourse have nonscientific origins. Therefore, it is important to clarify the meanings of these concepts to understand the heuristic capacities that they have for scientific research. The notion of satanism emerged in evangelical manuscripts, and it has since appeared repeatedly in political and juridical discussions. Moreover, there are conflicting opinions about the suitability of this notion for sociological study. In this paper, I use critical concept analysis and a critical perspective on religion to examine sociological discourse on satanism. The aim is to reveal the image of satanism that is constructed by sociologists, to understand the relations between academic and lay discourse on satanism, and to analyze how the sociological accounts of satanism are formed. I argue that to enhance sociology—and religious studies in general—among contemporary views of satanism, the naturalist model is the most promising, but it is not the only one that should be used to explain this notion.
This paper employs the concepts of cultural narrative to examine career choice among post-Soviet Russian teenagers going into higher education. Drawing on insights from cultural sociology more broadly and the cultural autonomy thesis more specifically, we demonstrate how the cultural narrative of a university degree as a ‘must-have at all costs’ subjugates various career decision-making logics identified, while downplaying individual agency and reflexivity. We argue that, by misdirecting career choice from opportunities to constraints, the dominant narrative serves to limit, rather than diversify, young people’s career choice and social mobility potential. We go on to theorise the interplay between culture and social institutions. Drawing on the cultural interpretation of Unified State Exam – a neoliberal educational governance tool – we show how cultural narrative hijacks institutional interpretations and usages, re-grounding neoliberal sensibilities in Soviet-era ones.
In this paper, we present a study, which models and measures the competencies of higher education students in business and economics—within and across countries. To measure student competencies in a valid and reliable way, the Test of Understanding in College Economics was used, which assesses microeconomic and macroeconomic competencies. The test was translated into several languages and adapted for different university contexts. In the presented study, the test contents were also compared with regard to the educational standards and the university curricula in Russia and Germany. Our findings from the cross-national analysis suggest one strong general factor of economic competence, which encompasses micro- and macroeconomic dimensions. This points to a stronger interconnection between learning and understanding economic contents than previous research suggests and indicates far-reaching curricular and instructional consequences for higher education economics as well as needs for further research, which are discussed in this paper.
This paper examines the patterns, and possible causes and consequences of public universities decline across nations in general and Russian Federation in particular. It is argued that decline in public higher education systems is a common feature across the Western and developing nations as well as Russia. It is further argued that this global decline was, and still is to a great extent, triggered by a worldwide marketization of the higher education systems, sweeping privatization, and ideological conservative economic theory of market supremacy that led to the major shrinkage of public sectors’ resources and even deinstitutionalization of public institutions. The purpose of the study is to elaborate on the background and possible causes and consequences of declining public universities, and to reveal basic patterns of the decline with a particular reference to the Russian public higher education institutions (HEIs). The theoretical framework with related literature is drawn from the perspectives on organization theory (e.g., organizational decline, cutback management, organizational resource interdependency theory), public choice economic theory, bureaucratic politics, and political economy of public expenditures theory. An analytical approach is proposed and applied for evaluating the dynamics and potential outcomes, using a four-step analysis that covers (1) universities’ resource base dynamics indexes to calculate and to single out the group of declining organizations; (2) a cluster analysis of dynamic characteristics of declining public universities and their performances; (3)two sample t-tests were performed for declining universities; and (4) analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews with the topmanagement of seven particular declining Russian universities.
Findings reveal that there are common causes for public universities decline, classified as intraorganizational, contextual, and technological factors. It is also illustrated that the dynamics of the performance characteristics of the declining public universities with statistically significant scores differ for the worse as compared to the control group. The findings allowed making a series of propositions for public policy and university leadership lesson-drawing, with several policy and administration implications for public higher education institutions across other nations worldwide.
Departmental academic support plays an important role in a doctoral journey. However, different types of support may be related to different outcomes. This paper aims to provide a categorisation of types of departmental academic support and analyse the relationship between these different categories of support and doctoral students' confidence that they will complete their dissertations. The empirical base for the research is data from a cross-institutional survey of doctoral students at six Russian universities. Based on the results of latent class analysis (LCA), we distinguished six types of departmental academic support depending on the functions performed by supervisors, other faculty members and department heads. Consistent with previous research, we found that departmental academic support plays a crucial role in doctoral students' experiences and outcomes, while lack of support is related to a lower level of confidence about completing a dissertation. At the same time, our results provide evidence that excessive collective engagement in doctoral students' work from departmental staff may be less effective than the strong engagement of a supervisor, assisted by informational support from other staff members.
This pocket data book contains the most recent statistical data representing the level and dynamics of the digital economy development in the Russian Federation. International comparisons are provided for a number of indicators.
The data book includes information of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Federal Customs Service of Russia, Russian Central Bank (Bank of Russia), European Statistical Office (Eurostat), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Scopus database, and results of own methodological and analytical studies of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.
The dual-track tuition fee model in post-Soviet countries is a distinctive funding model in international higher education. A legacy of the late Soviet state, which injected market mechanisms into the tuition fee-free socialist system, it divides students into two selection and funding streams regulated by different types of competition and price setting. This creates profound inequities, and, in most institutions, incentives to focus on revenue without regard for educational quality.
Purpose
The aim of the research is to estimate the level of the early career gender wage gap in Russia, its evolution during the early stages of a career, gender segregation and discrimination among university graduates, and to identify factors which explain early career gender differences in pay. Special emphasis is placed on assessing the contribution of horizontal segregation (inequal gender distribution in fields of studies and industries of employment) to early-career gender inequality.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a comprehensive and nationally representative survey of university graduates, carried out by Russian Federal State Statistics Service in 2016 (VTR Rosstat). The authors use Mincer OLS regressions for the analysis of the determinants of gender differences in pay. To explain the factors which form the gender gap, the authors use the Oaxaca-Blinder and Neumark gender gap decompositions, including detailed wage gap decompositions and decompositions by fields of study. For the analysis of differences in gender gap across wage distribution, quantile regressions and quantile decompositions based on recentered influence functions (RIFs) are used.
Findings
The study found significant gender differences in the early-career salaries of university graduates. Regression analysis confirms the presence of a 20% early-career gender wage gap. This gender wage gap is to a great extent can be explained by horizontal segregation: women are concentrated in fields of study and industries which are relatively low paid. More than half of the gender gap remains unexplained. The analysis of the evolution of the gender wage gap shows that it appears right after graduation and increases over time. A quantile decomposition reveals that, in low paid jobs, females experience less gender inequality than in better paid jobs.
Social implications
The analysis has some important policy implications. Previously, gender equality policies were mainly related to the elimination of gender discrimination at work, including positive discrimination programs in a selection of candidates to job openings and programs of promotion; programs which ease women labour force participation through flexible jobs; programs of human capital accumulation, which implied gender equality in access to higher education and encouraged women to get higher education, which was especially relevant for many developing countries. The analysis of Russia, a country with gender equality in access to higher education, shows that the early career gender gap exists right after graduation, and the main explanatory factor is gender segregation by field of study and industry, in other words, the gender wage gap to a high extent is related to self-selection of women in low-paid fields of study. To address this, new policies related to gender inequality in choice of fields of studies are needed.
Originality/value
It has been frequently stated that gender inequality appears either due to inequality in access to higher education or after maternity leave. Using large nationally representative dataset on university graduates, we show that gender equality in education does not necessarily lead to gender equality in the labour market. Unlike many studies, we show that the gender gap in Russia appears not after maternity leave and due to marital decisions of women, but in the earliest stages of their career, right after graduation, due to horizontal segregation (selection of women in relatively low-paid fields of study and consequently industries).
This paper investigates how explicit integration of employability skills into vocational education and training (VET) affects students’ perceived skills. Perceived or self-evaluated skills are often inaccurate perceptions of the real skills’ possession, but nonetheless they play a profound role in graduates’ career decisions. Confidence that resulted from positive self-evaluations supports the efforts and aspirations during school-to-work transitions. Thus, they are considered to be an important educational outcome supporting employability. The purpose of the study is to enrich understanding of relationship between students’ self-evaluations of employability skills and different teaching practices.
The analysis employs self-evaluations and entrepreneurial intentions of the Russian VET students collected with Monitoring of education markets and organizations in 2020 (n = 9 178). It focuses on social, self-learning and entrepreneurial skills, which are part of the VET national curriculum. The findings show that explicit embedding and integration of employability skills in the curriculum is significantly related to more positive self-evaluations of social and self-learning skills. Moreover, students, who were explicitly taught entrepreneurial skills, are more likely to plan to establish their own enterprise after graduation. Despite being effective, the explicit integration approach is revealed to be not dominant. Further research on the reasons behind this is needed for development of properly informed policy.
Purpose. This exploratory study aims, firstly, to analyse and categorise judgments on the ethical behaviour and actual behaviour of university educators. Secondly, the study addresses the impact of demographic data, such as gender, age, and role on these issues.
Approach. We utilised online survey data from academic employees of four leading universities in Russia, who are involved in teaching activities. In this study, we used correlation, regression and factor analyses.
Findings. Our results demonstrate that teaching while too distressed to be effective, is a common experience among university educators. By contrast, the rarest categories include teaching under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In addition, there is a high congruence between beliefs and respective behaviours. Females are typically more ethical in both judgements and actual behaviour. Factor analysis of behaviours yielded 16 interpretable factors.
Originality. This study contributed to the very limited research on the ethical aspects of higher education in Russia.
Practical implications. Firstly, the salary of the university educators should be adequate and competitive and match with their workload. Secondly, the work of the educators should be given recognition that may become their stimuli for improvement in university teaching. Thirdly, universities should develop ethics centres, which help faculty members and students to take the right decisions in situations involving questionable behaviour in the classroom. Lastly, the development of ethical codes, for faculty members and students, may become their guidance in situations with ethical dilemmas.
Eating disorders significantly impact the quality of life of the persons they affect, as well as their involvement in school bullying. People with bulimia and binge-eating disorders are known to be more likely to be victims of bullying; however, studies provide mixed evidence on the connection between bullying and anorexia. Therefore, in this paper, we suggest an explanation for the bullying victimization of people with anorexia. Our theoretical framework is based on psychoanalytical research on eating disorders, and we illustrate our arguments with the results of biographical interviews with 50 girls who have been diagnosed with anorexia. We show that a hostile family environment may influence the girls’ proneness to fall victim to school bullying. Therefore, school staff hoping to address the involvement of girls with anorexia in bullying should be aware of the role that family members play in bullying victimization and tailor interventions accordingly.
In moral panic studies, pro-ana communities are usually considered folk devils. Namely, pro-ana culture is investigated as an object of ‘moral crusades’ led by scientists, physicians, activists, politicians, mass media, parents and many other social actors concerned about the epidemics of restrictive eating disorders. In this paper, I put aside this strand of moral panic research and discuss the role of pro-ana communities as facilitators of moral panic to bridge the macro-micro divide in scientific investigations of the pro-ana phenomenon. I propose to examine pro-ana people as entrepreneurs of the moral panic over obesity. This means that pro-ana communities can be analysed as creating and spreading contemporary legends on obesity in their communication processes. Furthermore, I discuss and exemplify the roles of pro-ana people as amplifiers, supporters and enforcers of this panic. In addition, while reconnecting micro and macro levels in the explanation of the pro-ana phenomenon, I contribute to the development of moral panic theory, as the application of the concept of ‘moral panic’ to pro-ana communities facilitates niche formation in biomedical social research.
The problem of gender disparities in various areas of society has long been well known and identified in most countries. Russian academia is no exception. This paper describes the representation of Russian men and women authors in terms of research production. The analysis is based on 121,953 papers with at least one Russian author, covered by Web of Science (WoS) and published between 2017 and 2019. The results demonstrate that there are still evident signs of gender disparities. Women remain underrepresented in their overall presence and performance almost in all disciplines and generally in academia. In all research fields, women’s mean number of publications is lower than analogous indicators for men. Although some areas have relative gender parity and even more women authors, the gap between both genders remains stable for most disciplines. As a result, despite some improvements in women’s research performance, Russian academia is the case, demonstrating that without a gender policy in both Russian political and science systems, it is complicated to eliminate gender inequality.
This timely volume brings together a range of international scholars to analyse cultural, political, and individual factors which contribute to the continued global issue of female underrepresentation in STEM study and careers.
Offering a comparative approach to examining gender equity in STEM fields across countries including the UK, Germany, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Africa, and China, the volume provides a thematic breakdown of institutional trends and national policies that have successfully improved gender equity in STEM at institutions of higher education. Offering case studies that demonstrate how policies interact with changing social and cultural norms, and impact women’s choices and experiences in relation to the uptake and continuation of STEM study at the undergraduate level, the volume highlights new directions for research and policy to promote gender equity in STEM at school, university, and career levels.
Contributing to the United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in science education, higher education, and gender equity in STEM fields. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around multicultural education, educational policy and politics, and the sociology of education more broadly.
In this chapter, we analyze nationwide measures taken in Russia to organize the education system during the pandemic. We show the opportunities and limitations for responses associated relative to the previous policy phase. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of a system reaction to the situation of a pandemic in a federative country with heterogeneous regions. In contrast to several other countries that adopted a single national strategy, different scenarios were implemented in Russian regions. We investigate the factors that influenced the scenarios and management decisions at the national and regional levels of the country. We highlight differences in the nature and dynamics of measures taken to organize learning in the first (spring–summer 2020) and second (autumn–winter 2020) waves of the pandemic. We also analyze the subjective experience and wellbeing of students and teachers during a pandemic. As the empirical base, we use data from several large sociological studies conducted in the Russian Federation over the past six months on the issues of school closures, distance learning, and the “new normal.” This provides a new perspective for studying the increasing education gap between children with different socioeconomic status due to the pandemic.
Higher education has generally been excluded from the welfare discourse, especially in transition countries. This article addresses existing research gaps by applying the ideas of decommodification and stratification to higher education in post-Soviet countries, within the comparative framework of welfare regime typology. The purpose of this study is to analyse the extent to which higher education relates to welfare state models in such countries. The research demonstrates that institutional settings and outcomes of higher education provision in Estonia, Georgia and Russia are evolving toward patterns of social-democratic, liberal and conservative models, respectively. Although the correspondence is incomplete, we argue that post-Soviet states are more similar to groups of countries representing these welfare regimes than to each other. This study argues against the assumption of a uniform post-Soviet pattern of higher education policy and shows that its structuring is embedded in the wider context of national welfare state models.