'Scientist's Code': Yana Krupets on Proactive Youth, Drawing and AI in Sociology
'Scientist's Code' is a new feature on the university website in which we will introduce you to the scientists of HSE University-St Petersburg, their research, orienting points and hobbies. The first guest is Yana Krupets, Candidate of Social Sciences, Deputy Director of the Centre for Youth Studies and Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology. Over her work at HSE University-St Petersburg, she has been awarded the title of the best professor nine times. We talked to the researcher about what ethical dilemmas AI sets for sociologists, why it is important to study the youth and what drawing gives a researcher.
Research you are proud of
Even back in my student years, I was proud of the research I conducted in my second year at Samara University. At that time, I worked under the supervision of Anna Gotlib, a great specialist in qualitative sociology and its methods. At the cusp between the 90s and 2000s, she studied the Post-Soviet adaptation: looked at how people lived through large life changes. I joined that project and communicated with the generation of my parents, I had to conduct narrative interviews with them—that means I had to create such conditions under which people would tell me their stories without any follow-up questions. And it worked out, I was truly happy! Moreover, thanks to this project, I managed to see my parents from a completely new perspective. This is how my love for sociology started.
Now, I cannot highlight only one project but I am proud of what my colleagues and I do at the Centre for Youth Studies. It might seem that there is nothing complicated about the youth, everything's clear. But in fact, it is not. This year, the Centre for Youth Studies celebrated its 15th anniversary—over this time, we have collected a huge database about the youth. We see how significantly they change even in short periods like five years.
Before the Centre for Youth Studies, I had no idea how inspiring the youth can be. They make me believe that we can create our own special world or fix what's broken. With the help of our projects, we give voice to the young, and I believe that society should hear them—this is how it gets better. Today's youth is proactive and flexible: they are interested in self-education, and they easily cut off irrelevant life trajectories and try to create personal projects from scratch. All of this deserves respect. I wish the youth's courage to inspire not only us, researchers, but everyone else as well.
Research which changed your conception of science
My conception of science has never changed radically, I would say it was shaping. The transformation of my outlook on the world is more interesting but even here was no main research. Any qualitative research work changes the understanding of the world. For instance, there is a book 'Mushroom at World's End' in which through the mushroom collection and sales chains, Anna Jing clearly demonstrates how modern capitalism is structured. It is an unexpected approach, right?
There might be research with which you want to argue. Science is about arguing in general: for a reason, we describe a discussion around a certain question in articles. But any scientist has to understand why they were not convinced by the author's reasoning and why they want to criticise another point of view. There are also researches which do not affect me at all. This means only one thing: the author didn't dig deep enough, so it was boring. But we can find something interesting even in things that seem common. We just need to look at our daily life with fresh eyes.
Researcher you want to look up to
Perhaps, I won't be able to name only one because science is a collective creation. A scientist uses the theoretical framework developed by someone before and compares their research results with others. Moreover, I agree with such a model. But there are some exceptions. Sometimes, books describe a certain image but the sociological field offers a completely different one. In this case, it is better to follow your informants, then, you can learn something truly new.
There are authors whose texts regularly inspire me. I return to their transactions when I need to get into the rhythm of writing. For a while, I really liked Roland Barthes and David Graeber, now I find inspiration in French economic sociology.
The main thing for a scientist
Perhaps, the main thing is honesty. When we become scientists, we start following some common ethics. You mustn't fool informants and use their data in the interests of others, you mustn't fabricate the results of your work, you mustn't say what someone wants to hear. If you can't stay honest, you have to quit science.
Apart from honesty, a scientist needs a good imagination. Unfortunately, you cannot develop it on your personal experience alone. One should read other people's researches and watch how other sociologists work with data, and what questions to them they ask. One can look at other sciences, even if their approaches are not relevant to us. Changing optics also can be useful.
Of course, a scientist has to be diligent. Sociology is not always about creating new interesting concepts but it involves painstaking routine work. You have to collect all the data correctly, carefully transcribe and code them, and keep the observation diaries. A part of this job can be tiring. The good thing is: even now, artificial intelligence unloads us a little bit. There appeared automatic transcribers, and programmes NVivo and ATLAS.ti included AI in their latest versions, now, encoding interviews has become much easier.
However, new technologies brought new ethical issues: how to avoid data leaks if you use AI. Lots of foreign companies already negotiate non-disclosure of data with partners who provide AI technologies. I think a similar fate awaits us. University researchers could create their own programme with AI, and then, the risk of leaks would be minimal.
Sources of inspiration
Hobbies help me to reboot—I engage in illustration and tattoo. It is important for me to detach from texts and switch to images. At some point, I realised that drawing and research are similar in many ways. When I draw, I look at how the space is organised, what the composition can be like, what contrasts there are... The same goes with research: firstly, I plan the structure, then—the main issue, and only after that, I start collecting and analysing data. Drawing teaches you to notice details, seek out the main things and look for a new visual angle. However, I still believe that the main source of inspiration is our daily life because sociology is a science about life.
