The ‘long table’ method at the field stage of the research[Метод «Длинного Стола» На Этапе Исследования «В Поле»]

The article presents excerpts from the author’s monograph in print The ‘Long Table’ Method in the Field Qualitative Sociological Research. The method was developed in 1990–1995, during the long-term interdisciplinary research of the Russian countryside under the guidance of Professor Teodor Shanin. One of the directions of its further development was the Qualitative Researcher School which was created about twenty years ago. The monograph describes the methodology, techniques and cases of organizing working groups of researchers and of preparing them for conducting the field qualitative research of the full cycle—from concept to publication. The excerpts of the book presented in the article focus on such basic issues of the field sociological research based on the in-depth interview as tandem interview and long table method, functions of the group field diary, timing of the in-depth interview, crisis of understanding and theoretical framework of research. In addition to the specific methodological approaches and numerous examples from the research practice, the article presents parts of transcripts from the moderator and participants work with the ‘long table’ method in the Qualitative Researcher School in order to give the reader an idea of the research culture as a number of basic principles and values of the scientific search for truth, and of the atmosphere of mutual intellectual and emotional support within the research project as developed by Teodor Shanin.