Methodological Guidelines for Defining a Complex Psycho-Pedagogical Concept: A Case of the Definition of the Research Capacity of a Teacher in the Vocational Education System

Abstract

The historical landscape of science reminds us that researchers have always faced the challenge of defining the subject matter of the object of inquiry. If we expand the map of our journey across the fields yielding scientific knowledge, we will discover a largely similar picture. It is quite obvious that the definition design objective will always remain relevant for researchers. The authors of many works see the main value of any definition in its Capacity to deliver two objectives: to tag the category of objects of a certain type; to highlight the object’s essential attributes that reveal its specific subject matter. Realization of these objectives results in the assignment of the object’s basic taxonomic rank with the methodological reference signifiers that include, on the one hand, the coherent integrity of the object’s intrinsic attributes, and, on the other hand, the object’s specifically discrete features. Alongside, there arise methodological difficulties directly related to the justification of the logic and procedures for determining the object’s essential attributes and their reflection in the definition of the subject matter. This article is an attempt to expand the methodological scope of the psycho-pedagogical paradigm for definition design through the study of the concept of the Research Capacity of a Teacher in the Vocational Education System. The definition design methodology is presented hereby as a correlation of descriptive, explanatory, and concept models of a given phenomenon and as a consistent transition from one information structure to another. This process results in the assembly of the semantic construct for the definition, which allows to expand it through the synergy of integral features.