Use Of Comparative Method Research Articles

Canons, Customs, Superstitions: The Perception of Orthodox Church Norms and Practices by Clergy and Parishioners of the Mordovia Metropolis of Russian Orthodox Church

Introduction. The canonical norms, customs and superstitions that regulate common church practices are not always clearly differentiated in religious consciousness. As a result, the substitution of superstitions for canonical norms and customs leads to a distortion of the normative foundations of religious practices. The purpose of this study is to identify the level of subjective and objective knowledge of clergy and parishioners about normative and non-normative religious practices based on the results of the authors’ sociological research. Materials and Methods. The empirical base is the data of a sociological study conducted in October-November 2022 among the clergy and parishioners of the Mordovia Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church with interactive questionnaire. A non-probabilistic approach to sampling was used; respondents were recruited through own networks of researchers. The use of comparative method made it possible to identify differences in the perception of canons, customs and superstitions by two groups of respondents. Within the framework of pilot study, the author’s sociological tools and methods for result processing were tested. Since parishioners and especially clergy are a hard-to-reach group of respondents, a non-probability approach was used to form the sample. This entailed a number of limitations of the study. Results. Subjective assessments of the level of religious literacy were analyzed, including the knowledge about canons, customs and superstitions. Not only the clergy, but also parishioners demonstrated a comparatively high level of awareness of the normative foundations of religious practices, although some parishioners have an inflated self-esteem. General ideas about the concepts of normative and non-normative were revealed, none of the respondents had any objections to the definition of the concepts of “canon”, “custom”, “superstition”. However, discrepancies were found regarding the assessment of some practices. Discussion and Conclusion. Four factors were identified, in which variables are grouped, demonstrating the different nature of respondents’ knowledge about canons, customs and superstitions: knowledge to distinguish customs and canons from superstitions; knowledge of the customs relating to events and situations; knowledge of the canons; knowledge of the canons relating to special religious knowledge, including those regulating the life of clergy. The article will be useful to researchers of religious practices and religious consciousness, as well as lecturers of the theological educational institutions.

Acrostic in Byzantine Hymnography and Slavonic Spiritual Poetry in Byzantine Hymnography

The purpose of the work is to investigate the functioning of the acrostiс verse in various contexts of the spiritual culture of the European space. This ancient form is used in Old Testament poetry, Byzantine hymnography, Ukrainian sacred monody and spiritual song. The methodological basis is the application of systemic and complex approaches, which ensured the establishment of valuable social and cultural functional elements within the historical development of mankind. The use of comparative method of research contributed to the identification of structural models that ensured the integrity and systematicity of the evolution of culture on the example of form-forming structures. In this context, we also use the heuristic method of research, which contributes to the modeling of structural connections within cultural and artistic forms. The use of the specified research methods contributed to obtaining own theoretical results. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the originality of the theoretical principle of comparing the form of the acrostic in different genres over time intervals. Conclusions. The ways of arranging poetic texts, which laid the foundations of Byzantine hymnography, are a complex system formed on the basis of ancient metrical and melodic constructions. The acrostic became the evidence of the adaptation of such experience of ancient forms of poetry – as a source of a number of important form-creating processes. The long-term use of the acrostic is evidence of the use of liturgical experience in the context of synthesising the “technological developments” of ancient cultures and singling out among them the most functional, in particular, the acrostic.
 Key words: acrostiс, Byzantine hymnography, sacred monody, baroque poetry, Bohohlasnyk, spiritual song.

Divine order and secular social science in Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America

ABSTRACT Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America can be read as an extended anthropological comparison of hierarchical and egalitarian societies (‘aristocracies’ and ‘democracies,’ in his terms). In its use of comparative method, it is strikingly modern, almost post-modern: secular social science. And yet, for Tocqueville, divine knowledge provided another comparative perspective. In this essay, I explore the implications of Tocqueville’s consideration of divine order for his work as a seemingly secular comparative anthropologist. I argue that one of the foundational concepts of secular social science, ‘society,’ may not be universally applicable since, as Tocqueville’s work suggests, it is ill-suited for the study of people who thought of their world as a divine, not a social, order.

TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AS THE COMPONENT OF THE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE ELEMENT OF STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION

The problem of studying the significance of teachers’ professional skills as the component of the quality of higher education and the element of students’ motivation is being analyzed in the article. The purpose of the research is study and analyzes of students’ attitude towards teachers’ professional skills as the component of the quality of higher education. The research has been conducted with the help of theoretical and empirical methods. Connection between the quality of higher education and teachers’ professional skills has been established with the help of dialectical method. The use of comparative method allowed us to implement the raking division of students’ attitude towards teachers’ professional skills. The empirical base of the research consists of the results of the survey of 175 students of Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University. The following teachers’ professional skills: the ability to arouse the interest for the subject; clarity, accessibility and comprehensibility of the information layout; the ability to create a teamwork, motivate to achieve goals have been granted the highest ranking according to students’ attitude towards teachers’ professional skills. Such skills as objectivity and transparency of evaluation; goodwill and tactfulness; creative approach to studying; subject competence; erudition and culture of speech are highly evaluated. The following qualities: the culture of a dress code; organizational culture; the ability to act accordingly with moral, ethical and legal standards; the ability to recognize, formulate and solve problems constitute the interim position of the general ranking. Content significance and accessibility of the information which is being taught; skills of informational technologies; the ability to choose forms and methods of teaching which comply with student-oriented approach have been positioned at the lowest point of the general ranking according to the survey.

International administration In Donbas: ways of implementation on the basis of experience of peacekeeping processes in the Balkans and in East Timor

The article discusses the experience of creation of peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eastern Slavonia, Kosovo and East Timor with the use of comparative method. It also raises the role of international and regional actors in post-conflict peacebuilding. The author presents some practical solutions for the implementation of the effective peace process in eastern Ukraine, aimed at the reintegration of temporarily occupied territories.

The concept of sustainable development in spatial management of mountain settlement units

Relationship between the built environment and nature is particularly noticeable in areas with valuable natural assets. The special physiographic conditions over there often initiate the development of towns, becoming even the impetus for the new, modern settlement. Many times the environmental advantages, paradoxically turn into theirs doom. Building imprints mark. Initially, it becomes the model complement with the natural world, until it does not exceed the difficult to define boundaries. The aim of this thesis is to search for solutions that will allow for spatial sustainability between the built and natural environments of the Karkonosze. The attractive mountain area used for sports and tourism now meets with the processes of urbanization. These issues are subject to analysis by the use of comparative method providing the different concepts of towns located in the high mountain areas of Austria. Described resorts with well-developed ski and tourism infrastructure can be examples of saving the scale and unique character, despite growing new needs and expectations of tourists and athletes. There is a chance to evolve their own local standards for space use in the Karkonosze. Key findings relate inter alia the size and the level of density of the villages. Because they affect the possibility of maintaining a proper relationship between man and nature. The issue of protection and use of historical complexes in the context of efficient space management is not without a significance.

The Ukrainian Translation Heritage of the 1960s: Back from the Shadow

This article aims to provide an overview of the current state of literary translation in Ukraine (basically from English into Ukrainian) focusing on the periods to signify its flourishing, touching upon the patterns of dissemination and reception, identifying areas of further research as well as highlighting key matters of enquiry. For the purposes of this report, the frame of reference has to be attributed to the 1960s as the site of global extension and major explosion in Ukrainian translations that had for long lagged behind and existed under the dominance of Russian translation school. The research work intends to give a broad outline of contemporary views on the Ukrainian translation heritage of the aforementioned period accentuating on the works of Rostislav Dotsenko, Dmytro Palamarchuk and Yury Lisnyak. It has conclusively been proved that they proclaimed new insights into translation methodology with particular emphasis on the style and accuracy of the translated versions, their intended audience, social value as well as their relation to literary trends in English. The use of comparative method moves to consider the translators' techniques not only in terms of differences between languages but also from the perspective of how these translations have been perceived or assessed.

Planejamento tributário: análise entre o simples nacional e o lucro presumido

This study was initiated because of the need to define the legal situation that, really, is the tax planning in Brazil. The use of comparative method between the estimated gain and the national simple level to clarify an avoidance induced by the law, mainly, demonstrate the possibility of a reduced tax burden and tax savings for companies. Under the focus of the State of Law that honors the principles of strict legality and typicality closed. At first, the article focuses on Tax Planning, talking about his concept and idea of avoidance and tax evasion. Lectures on the constitutional principles of legality and strict legality, this from the perspective of rule-array of tax incidence, which determines the possibility of incidence and tax relationship. Considering the statutory definition and understanding of doctrine on the issue, conceptualizes the Presumed Gain and the National Simple. It presents a practical tax planning, analyzing how best to collect Income Tax and Social Contribution on Net Income, by a microenterprise.

Baker, Maureen. RESTRUCTURING FAMILY POLICIES: CONVERGENCES AND DIVERGENCES

Baker, Maureen. RESTRUCTURING FAMILY POLICIES: CONVERGENCES AND DIVERGENCES. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.336 pp. Price: NZ $72.00, CDN $42.00 UK£65.00 (hc); CDN $29.95, UK£20.00(pb). ISBN: 0802087833 (hc). ISBN: 08020885717 (pb).Reviewed by: DAVID A. SWAIN*From time sociology crystallized as a distinct discipline, it has been committed to comparative study of societies, cultures, and their institutions. So much was this case that founding fathers of today's sociology...employed comparative analysis as selfevident way of going about.. .sociological inquiry (Merton, 1967: v).One cannot explain a fact of any complexity except by following its complete development through all species. Comparative sociology is not a particular branch of sociology; it is sociology itself, in so far as it.. .aspires to account for facts (Durkheim, 1938: 139).It is only by use of comparative method that we can arrive at general explanations. The alternative is to confine ourselves to particularistic explanations.... The two kinds of explanation are both legitimate and do not conflict; but both are needed for understanding of societies and their institutions (Radcliffe-Brown, 1952:113 114).The fundamental reason why more attention should be given to comparative research and analysis is that sociological theory has been developed in one rather small comer of world and may [thus] be highly limited as a universal explanatory scheme (Marsh, 1967:56).These are ample reasons for welcoming Maureen Baker's Restructuring Family Policies: Convergences & Divergences. It is an excellent contribution to cross-national comparative literature on policies and is particularly valuable for attention devoted to policy topics and countries that have not previously been especially accessible in international literature and in integrated treatment of related but distinct policy areas. The author draws on single-country studies, cross-national comparative studies and international (mosdy OECD) databases. She makes point that later 20*-century and ongoing restructuring of welfare states (and die literature that deals with this phenomenon) is typically described and analyzed cross-nationally with nation states as units of analysis, which means that significant variations in nature of restructuring across specific sectors within a nation cannot be addressed.This book deals with five clusters of policies and examines external and internal resulting in restructuring of specific social policies, programs [sic] and services designed for families with children (p. 5). The scope is cross-national; approach is comparative; but analysis disaggregates the welfare state in order to be able to itemize and (the sub-title of book). External pressures include treaties and international organizations; internal pressures include socio-demographic changes, political parties that rise and fall, and prevailing models of the family (e.g., male breadwinner or parent worker) that shape policy arrays.It is refreshing that author's specialized knowledge of policies in Canada and New Zealand is woven through broader and more familiar-and predominantly EurocentricOECD materials. The sub-title theme of convergences and divergences is ably outlined and analyzed so that readers can locate their own country and/or policy interests in this broader context. The policy details are broadly up-to-date and readers are given useful guidance as to literature and OECD data sources-though because these are dated when they are finally published author also proclaims a readiness to use websites, newspapers and conference proceedings as well (though most intelligent and insightful journalistic commentator on policy and politics in New Zealand, Colin James, doesn't make an appearance despite author being NZ-based). …

Scribal culture and the making of the Hebrew Bible

Scribal Culture and Making of Hebrew Bible, by Karel van der Toorn. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2007. 401 pp. $35.00. Scribal Culture and Making of Hebrew Bible, Karel van der Toorn seeks origins of Bible in scribal of ancient Israel. As he acknowledges, what sets his study apart from other contributions on subject is its extensive use of comparative method (p. 3). The author describes his work as a in four stages (p. 4). First, he conducts a reconnaissance of roles of writing and authorship and place of written texts in ancient Near East (Chapters 1 and 2). He concludes that a book culture did not exist; rather author in Israel and Mesopotamia a craftsman, whose talent was not an instrument to express private and personal but a way to attain pinnacle of collective art (pp. 46-47). second phase, van der Toorn explores scribal milleu and its modes of production (Chapters 3, 4, and 5). He argues that cosmopolitan spirit of scribal made it open to influences from outside world (p. 53); thus a study of Israelite scribal naturally lends itself to use of comparative data. Inasmuch as author takes his methodological cues from nature of evidence itself, his work provides a superb model for use of comparative method. However, it bears considering that oral may have had a stronger foothold in Israel than it did in Mesopotamia and Egypt (as witness vast difference in numbers of texts that have come down to us from Israel and its vicinity as compared with Egypt and Mesopotamia - a fact that perhaps should not be explained on basis of preservation alone). If indeed Israel differed from its distant neighbors in this regard, this may have affected a distinct set of Israelite attitudes towards scribalism itself, a possibility that van der Toorn does not address. third phase of his work he applies his conclusions to two biblical case studies: of Deuteronomy (Chapter 6) and of Jeremiah (Chapter 7). While both books contain illuminating references to production and transmission of texts, scholars widely recognize that these books share a common outlook and vocabulary that suggests close temporal and institutional connections. Van der Toorn admits this, speculating that scribes behind Jeremiah had same background as, or were even identical with, scribes behind Deuteronomy (p. 199). These books then, probably should not be regarded as representative of the making of Bible as a whole (p. 7), as van der Toorn suggests. His analysis may provide a more limited picture of Israelite scribal than he acknowledges. The author's choice of Deuteronomy as a sample of scribal is dependent on 1889 work of Karl Marti, who identified iorwf yhwh attributed to deceitful pen of scribes, in Jeremiah 8:8, as of Deuteronomy. Van der Toorn explains, In view of obvious connection berween Deuteronomy and the'book of Teaching,' underlying religious reform carried out by King Josiah in 622, it makes sense to think that it indeed an early edition of Deuteronomy that provoked Jeremiah's criticism. On assumption that Deuteronomy is a product of 'pen of scribes' then, it can be read as a mirror in which scribal is reflected (p. 143). Van der Toorn's logic here reflects an array of unsubstantiated assumptions. …

The Spanish Contribution to Educational Comparativism

Introduction Comparative education is not same thing as comparativism; similarly, a educator is not same as an comparativist. The former makes rigorously scientific comparisons in space and in time (past, present, and future) among theories and practice. In contrast, to merit label comparativist, it is sufficient for educator to make frequent use of comparative method in his investigations, or to import or export theories and practice. This educational traffic, if we may call it so, occurs above all in stage that historians of our field generally call the borrowing period.

Religious and Other Ecstasies

In psychology of religion adequate conclusions cannot be reached unless, making full use of comparative method, phenomena that are alike, whether they appear within or outside of religion, are studied together. We propose in this paper to establish whatever relation can legitimately be established between religious and nonreligious ecstasy. Beginning with instances generally regarded as purely physiological in their origin, i.e., independent of any belief or other conscious factor, we shall end with a religious ecstasy. The main manifestation of that dread disease, epilepsy, is often preceded by curious signs, varying greatly from person to person, but fairly constant in same person. In some instances, aura, as these premonitory symptoms are called, is in nature of an ecstasy. In Modern Medicine Dr. Spratling reports case of a priest under his care whose epileptic attacks were preceded by a rapturous moment. Walking, for instance, along streets he would suddenly feel, as it were, transported to heaven. This state of marvelous enjoyment would soon pass, and a little later on he would find himself seated on curb of sidewalk aware that he had suffered an epileptic attack.' The same author mentions elsewhere two other epileptic patients, teachers of noted ability, who speak of their aura as the most overwhelming ecstatic state it is possible for human to conceive of.'2