History of the center

The history of the Mykolaiv Center for Sociological Research dates back to 2007, which coincided with the opening at Mykolaiv State University named after Petro Mohyla (now – Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University) specialty “Sociology”. The head of the center was the dean of the faculty of sociology Liudmyla Anatolievna Lyapina, a member of the Board of the Sociological Association of Ukraine, and the center itself was created with the support of the All-Ukrainian Sociological Service. It consists of leading experts of the graduating department of sociology who already had experience in conducting empirical sociological research on actual social issues, and scientific leadership was carried out by professor, head of the department of sociology Iryna Albertivna Meyzhis.

At the initial stage of the center’s activities, his tasks were of a scientific and educational nature, with the aim of providing real practice to students of the specialty “Sociology”. But over the next few years the center has entered the city level. From 2010 to the present time, center employees and senior students conduct comprehensive large-scale polls of public opinion of the inhabitants of the city of Mykolaiv (omnibus surveys) on topical socio-political, socio-economic, socio-cultural problems of all-Ukrainian and urban significance, receiving regular coverage in the local press.

In general, the center carries out various orders for sociological research coming from the university’s administration and academic council (this is, in particular, the annual survey of university students according to the standardized “Quality of Education” questionnaire, on the basis of which the relevant authorities are taking appropriate measures), public organizations of the city, government departments and local government, business structures, etc. For example, in 2011-2012, a long-term agreement was concluded with the Mykolaiv City Executive Committee. Therefore, on the basis of the center, senior students conduct sociological research on relevant topics for the city within their diploma projects, while undergoing their pre-diploma practice in the structural subdivisions of the city executive committee. The cooperation of the center with Center for the Study of Public Opinion “Nawal-Expert” – the leading sociological service of the city of Mykolaiv headed by famous sociologist-practitioner L. P. Bilokon, well-known in the city and beyond – proved to be fruitful.

Among the latest research and projects of the center are “The attitude of residents of Mykolaiv to the existence of spontaneous markets in the city” (according to the results of sociological research in 2018); “Attitude of citizens to the problem of homeless animals” (according to the results of sociological research in 2018); “Actual problems of city improvement” (monitoring researches 2013-2017); “Personal comfort and living satisfaction in Mykolaiv city” (monitoring researches 2013-2017); online poll “The political mood of Mykolaiv” (October 2017).

During the last five years, the center has worked and continues to work on state grant projects “Scientific development of the implementation of European socio-cultural and educational standards” and “Effective functioning and development of the regional socio-cultural environment in the conditions of decentralization as a guarantee of national security of Ukraine”, ensuring field empirical research and processing of the results.

Active participation in the work of the center during these years was taken by D. A. Loktionova (head of the center in 2015-2018), L. A. Kalashnikova, V. O. Chorna, N. V. Rozhanska (current head of the center), B. B. Bondarets and others, who proved themselves to be genuine practitioners.

Thus, during the years of its existence, the center conducted a series of professional empirical studies in various spheres of public life covering a wide range of issues and obtaining practical results.

Author-compiler Fesenko A. M.