Empirical Social Research in Belarus

by
Larissa Titarenko

1. Historical outline (empirical social research before 1991)

[1]  Unlike most of the Central and Eastern Europe countries which were practically liberated from the Soviet influence and socialist regimes already in 1989 the Republic of Belarus declared its independence on July 27, 1990. However, this Declaration of Independence was constitutionally stated after the social and political crisis in the USSR only, on August 25, 1991. Since that time one can talk about independent empirical social research in Belarus. The year of 1991 constitutes the parting line of two different periods of social research in Belarus: (a) under the Soviet power and (b) under the new conditions of national independence.

[2]  As sociology was considered to be a “bourgeois” science in the USSR it had been blamed for a long time (until 1974 this discipline was not officially recognized and not allowed at Soviet universities). Therefore sociology was not properly developed and serious independent empirical sociological research was not possible. However, as some empirical results were needed for the state authorities selected studies - mainly related to the sphere of industrial enterprises, labour productivity, job motivation, etc. - were conducted by scholars in all former Soviet republics (including Belarus).

[3]  In order to meet the Communist authorities’ social order the Central Committee of Communist Party of BSSR (Belarusian Soviet Republic) established the Public Institute of Social Research (PISR) in 1965. This organisation functioned between 1965 and 1970 without any financial support. The staff consisted of researchers from the Academy of Sciences of BSSR and from some universities. The core of the organisation was a group of researchers from the Minsk Pedagogical Institute. PISR coordinated the sociological research in the country, organized some training courses in sociology for researchers and disseminated sociological knowledge among the population. Despite these activities the value of PISR for the scientific community and the society was highly limited though as it was completely coordinated and controlled by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of BSSR. In 1970 PISR was closed and a new Department of Social Research was organized within the Academy of Sciences of BSSR. In 1968 the Research Laboratory of Sociological Problems was founded at the Belarusian State University. Its major goal was to do empirical research on students but it conducted some non-budget surveys in industrial enterprises as well. In 1990 this Laboratory was reorganised into the BSU Centre for Sociological Research. This organisation concentrated its research mostly on youth topics.

[4]  The whole period before 1985 was the time of theoretical stagnation and traditionalism in social sciences. Therefore sociology and empirical social research in general did not receive any serious development. It is necessary to mention that in the late eighties there were also first attempts to carry out applied research in Belarus. Unfortunately its results were not archived since they were used by the authorities mainly for the purposes of political propaganda. Because of the lack of technical equipment at those days the data was kept in paper format only and is not available for any further statistical analysis.

[5]  In the very end of the Soviet period sociologists from Belarus took part in the large all-union empirical survey on the social structure of the Soviet society. These data were centrally collected and archived in Moscow. Since 1986 a monitoring of the social, cultural and psychological consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe has been conducted. The results of this monitoring are mainly closed for the public.

[6]  The Department of Sociology at the Belarusian State University was founded in 1989. During the Soviet period there were no essential empirical research done by the scholars from this department.

[7]  In 1990 a new historical epoch begun as the new principles of research (publicity and co-operation with the West) were declared and the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences was opened. This institute was built on the basis of three already existing structural elements of the Academy of Sciences (3, pp. 114-115):

• 1. Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Sciences of BSSR with the following departments:
  • Department of Theory, Methodology and Methods of Sociological Research;
  • Department of Public Opinion Research;
  • Department of Social Dynamics of the Rural Population
  • Department of Social Problems of the Youth;
  • Department of Sociological Research of Ideological Processes.

[8]  These departments were united into the Center of Sociological Research in 1989.

• 2. Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of BSSR consisting of the:
  • Department of Socio-economic Problems of the Demographic Development and
  • Department of Sociology of Science.

• 3. Laboratory of Social Psychology of Personality withinunder the Institute of Technical Cybernetics of the Academy of Science of BSSR.

[9]  All these parts were reorganised and became the basis for the Institute of Sociology (IS). The creation of the IS was initiated by the Belarusian sociologist and philosopher Evgeny Babosov who was the director of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Science of BSSR at that time. From 1990 to 1998 he headed the IS and since 1998 he has been the Honorary Director of the IS. Under his direction a lot of empirical surveys were conducted. From the very beginning the IS actively participated in performing the “State Complex Programmes of Fundamental Research”.

[10]  A number of monographs had been published by the scholars of the IS before the break-up of the USSR, such as: “Man and Market” (1991), “Transition to the Market and the Socio-Economic Situation of the Belarusian Youth” (1991). All of these books were based on empirical data but because of the lack of computers and special programs these data were not archived in a proper way and therefore they are out of practical use now.

2. Development of empirical research since 1991

[11]  Although regained in 1991 the national independence could not influence the further development of social sciences (and especially sociology) in Belarus. Nevertheless, it was a quite influential factor which affected the research area in many ways. On the one hand the declared methodological pluralism and transition from the Soviet state socialism to the post-Soviet market economy were the major slogans of those days. It caused a considerable increase in all fields of sociological research dedicated to the contemporary situation in the society and it could have happened a real break out in Belarusian sociology. However, on the other hand independence and market meant that 1. much less money from the state budget would be spent on research and 2. much less long-term programmes would be launched by the state because market conditions usually require mainly short-term projects that meet the current needs of enterprises, firms, etc. That is why in the 1990s a number of private commercial sociological firms have appeared whereas the state institutes have lost a part of their teaching and research staff. At the same time the amount of state establishments carrying out sociological research has increased in Belarus.

Academic social research insatitutes and their data collections they produce

[12]  The biggest and most significant state- supported sociological organisations in Belarus are:

• 1. Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences (IS)
• 2. Institute of Socio-Political Research under the direction of the Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus (ISPR)Bushchyk, Vasily
• 3. BSU Center for Sociological and Political Research
• 4. Research Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Problems of the Minsk Executive Committee.

[13]  1. Since the time of its creation in 1990 the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences (IS) has been the major state supported establishment dealing with empirical social research. In the 1990s it successfully continued its activities and contributed greatly to the collection of empirical information throughout the country. In the mid-1990s the structure of the IS was reformed: eight thematic oriented research departments and one sector of mathematical statistics were formed. Additionally in 1999 the Monitoring Centre of Scientific and Teaching Staff Migration was created. Between 1998 and 2000 the IS was headed by Vasily Bushchyk. Since 2000 the head is Georgy Yevelkin.

[14]  Since 1990 the IS has been participating in creating and launching three State Complex Programmes of Fundamental Research concerning the contemporary social, economic and cultural development of the country. The empirical research within these programs were mainly intended to fix the new processes that have been taking place in Belarusian society since 1991. Since 2000 the IS has been conducting the monitoring of the socio-economic, socio-political and cultural processes of the Belarusian society. In 2002 the IS started the implementation of the new State Programme of Fundamental Research “Scientific Personnel”.

[15]  Changes of the research tasks, funding and the structure of the research area led to further reforming of the Institute. Besides the sector of mathematics and statistics that actually collects the empirical data now there are two research departments and two research centres. They are:

• Department of Social Stratification, Sociology of Culture and Personality
• Department of Socio-economic and Political Science Research
• Centre for Applied Research and Social Forecast
• Centre for Scientific and Teaching Staff Migration.

[16]  At the present time approximately 60 scientists are working at the Institute of Sociology. Three main research areas have been formed within the framework of the IS: 1. Social conflicts and catastrophes; 2. Sociology of labour and economic sociology and 3. Social policy. Among more than 100 monographs, textbooks, booklets and about 1000 articles produced by the staff of the IS the most significant are:

• Sokolova, Galina (1994): Economic Way of Thinking: Reality and Perspectives
• Babosov, Evgenii (1995 ): Catastrophes: Sociological Analysis
• Shavel, Sergei (1996): Tendencies of Changing of the Social Structure of Belarus
• Babosov, Evgenii (1997): Conflictology
• Sokolova, Galina (1998): Social mechanisms of labour force market regulations
• Bushchyk, Vasily (2001): Man and Society under Conditions of Social-Political Changes
• Shary, Igor (2001): Policy in the Sphere of Science during the Period of Transition
• Baranovski, Nikolai (2002): Introduction to Victimology

[17]  2. In September 1997 the Institute of Socio-Political Studies under the direction of the Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus (ISPS) was created on the basis of the Institution “BelInformForecast”. At the present time it is the leading centre in the field of social and political applied research in the country. Its main purpose is to collect information, that provides analytical background knowledge for the President and the Government. This includes a complex socio-political research to provide the scientific background for planning and implementing of state programmes for the socio-economic development in Belarus. Other important research directions are:

• analysis of different aspects of socio-economic processes in the country and in the world;
• defining the sourcses of mobilization of mass-media for the strengthening of the political system and national security of Belarus;
• forming the main principles and directions of international relations in the country;
• studying the problems of the preservation of the historic-cultural heritage;
• forming the strong ideological basis for the Belarusian statehood.

[18]  ISPS consists of the following research centres:

• Centre of Political Research
• Center of Sociological Research
• Center of Social Problems
• Center of Geopolitical Problems Research
• Center of Operative Information Research.

[19]  ISPRBushchyk, Vasily co-operates actively with various state organisations all over the country. There are several joint research projects but each centre keeps its data only for its own aims and the publication of selected analytic reports and articles. ISPR has carried out the monitoring of:

• the socio-political situation in the country
• the condition in the technical sphere (since 1998) and
• mass-media research in Belarus (since 2002).

[20]  Besides, it has coordinated some joint public opinion polls during the latest election campaigns and conducted some surveys by order of different organisations: monitoring of the realisation and improvement of the social youth policy (1999, with the State Committee on Youth); study of the level of information about AIDS (1999, with the UN); an opinion poll concerning attitudes towards the police and other internal forces (2000, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs). Between 1998 and 2000 more than 15 monographs and collections of articles have been published. But the access to the data collection of the ISPS is not open. The data are not available for any scholar from outside the ISPS.

[21]  3. In 1996 the former BSU Sociological Academic Research Centre was reformed into the BSU Centre for Sociological and Political Research (CSPR, the head is David Rotman). The CSPR consists of the following departments and services:

• Department of Socio-political Problems
• Department of Socio-economic and Socio-cultural Problems
• Department of Information Processing
• Network of Interviewers’ Service
• Quality Control Service
• Research Provision Service.

[22]  CSPR conducts public opinion polls throughout the country using both quantative and qualitative methods. The process of collecting sociological data is organised in regional and national samples. CSPR carries out empirical research financed partly by the state budget and partly by orders from private persons and firms. CSPR co-operates with various sociological centres and agencies in Austria, Germany, the UK, France, the USA, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc.

[23]  The main research topics of the Center for Sociological and Political Research are: politics, education, international affairs, religion, the youth, structure of society, elections, health. CSPR also conducts surveys on the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe as well as marketing research. A number of monographs on applied sociological and electoral studies has been published by the Centre. The data produced by the Centre is closed for the public: only those who work in the Centre have the right to use it.

[24]  Some years ago (at the end of the previous century), a programme on the creation of the international empirical sociological data bank for four post-Soviet states (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Russia) has been launched. This project has been partly financed by Paul Lazarsfeld Gesellschaft (Austria). The headquarters of the project was BSU Centre of Sociological and Political Research. However, there was not enough interest to cooperate and share data sets from the national participants of this project, so that with the end of the grant all activities in this direction have been stopped, while such international archive has not been established.

[25]  4. There are further institutions, that also do important empirical national and regional research. Some of them are working for the local authorities as part of the executive power. Following this way the Minsk Scientific-Research Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Problems (MSRISEPP)Minsk Scientific-Research Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Problems was created in 1994. The institute is headed by Vladimir Bobkov. The MSRISEPP conducts public opinion polls on socio-economic and political issues mainly for policy makers of the Minsk Executive Committee as well as surveys on various aspects of the effectiveness of the local economy. For example, in Spring 2004 the institute conducted a complex sociological study on the economic situation of students from several Minsk universities. Besides, MSRISEPP is the initiator of various academic conferences on international and national level.

[26]  There are also some sociological departments under the direction of the Oblast Executive Committees which carry out regional (oblast) research: for example the Mogilev’s Regional Sociological Centre at the Oblast Executive Committee. Their data are not open to the public.

Non-governmental market and opinion research institutes and their data they producecollection

[27]  First private market and opinion research institutes appeared in Belarus in the beginning of the 1990s when private ownership was permitted. But as the State Government could not spent enough money for extra empirical research and support of private sociological firms only those private firms did not disappear that had been supported by foreign capital. Since then some of these private firms have turned into the influential academic institutes that are well-known in the NIS and in the West. To make themselves visible for the public they regularly carry out empirical surveys, publish some data, organize press conferences, etc. The biggest private sociological research centres in Belarus are:

• Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS)
• “NOVAK” Axiometrical Research Laboratory
• Temporary non-state sociological projects and small sociological services under the direction of other organizations.

[28]  1. In February 1992 the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) was established as a national public association by a group of academics, journalists, politicians and businessmen. IISEPS’ mission is to promote the formation of the civil society and free market economy in Belarus through the study of the socio-economic and political process of transition from totalitarianism to democracy and active promotion of values and principles of liberalism. IISEPS’ head is Oleg Manaev. For the time being IISEPS has 10 staff members and several experts (5).
Main activities of IISEPS are:

• research in the fields of sociology, economics and political science;
• consulting;
• organisation of conferences and seminars;
• publishing and dissemination of analytical materials;
• professional training.

[29]  From 1992 to 2004 Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) has conducted 32 national polls. The topic of the latest poll was "Strengthening the role of independent social studies and experts' networks in Belarus". Among the topics of other studies the most important are: mass-media’s role in the democratisation of society, development of the working movement, the formation of public leaders, anti-market stereotypes in the transitional society, improvement of the economic programmes of the commercial television, role of the youth in forming the civil society, creation of information infrastructure of private enterprises, and other projects. As IISEPS usually works on grants the dissemination of its data depends on the financial sponsors. IISEPS uses different research methods to obtain information including its own network of interviewers throughout the country. Furthermore, since 1994 IISEPS has had its own Centre for Documentation which is the first non-state academic archive in Belarus. Its informational basis consists of 50 thousand documents, characterizing the structure of the civil society in Belarus. However, it is not a data archive, it is an archive of different kinds of scientific and public documents related to the period of post-Soviet transformation in Belarus. Actually, many documents related to IISEPS activities (surveys, conferences, seminars) are kept in this archive (see Table 1).

*:   Excluding transitory projects

**:   Including 20% in broadcasting

***:   Including 7 international and 29 regional

[30]  Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) pays special attention to public opinion and public policy issues. Since 1996 IISEPS has been publishing the analytical bulletin “IISEPS’ News” 4 times a year and since 2002 the electronic bulletin “Infofocus” (once per month). Since 1998 IISEPS has had its web site providing information in English and Russian (www.nisepi.by). In 1997 IISEPS initiated the creation of the Belarusian Association of Think Tanks (BATT), which unites 15 non-state research centres in different regions of the country. In 1999 IISEPS took part in the dialogue between the authorities and the opposition under the aegis of the OSCE.

[31]  2. ”NOVAK” Axiometrical Research Laboratory is a private non-state research enterprise which specializes in marketing research, public opinion polls and consulting in these spheres. “NOVAK” was created in 1992. Since 1993 Andrej Vardomackij has been its head. The title NOVAK Axiometrical Research Laboratoryconveys the initial academic orientation of the provided service. The laboratory carries out research mainly financed by business and mass-media clients (e.g. Belarusian TV has a contract with NOVAK). However, it also conducts some surveys by order of various Ministries of Belarus. The produced data is not available for the public, of course.

[32]  NOVAK Axiometrical Research Laboratory applies both quality and quantative methods: 1000-respondents polls throughout the country, focus groups, mass-media polls, etc. Monthly nation wide omnibus surveys on marketing problems are held in a monitoring regime and media research is conducted as a diary panel. In its work “NOVAK” uses a national network of skilled interviewers.

[33]  3. There are temporary empirical sociological projects initiated by various organisations. For example, the “Women Leadership” Project (2002-2005) financed by the Japan Women in Development Fund and the UNDP office in Minsk is being carried out by the European Humanities University (EHU) in the Minsk and Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus. Within the framework of the programme, EHU has already conducted two national public opinion polls on this topic. Intermediate results of the project are available on the web site: www.gender.by.

[34]  There are also some small sociological services run by bigger information agencies such as “Lusterka” (“Mirror”) or the Office of the Belarusian Information Company (BelaPan) which was created in 1995. Since 1998 “Lusterka” has been publishing its own monthly bulletins. However, usually this service does not conduct its own research it primarily collects the information of other surveys and disseminates it through the bulletins. Since 1997 the Central Committee of Communist Party, that functions in Belarus as a successor of the CPSU (PCB) has had its sociological service which is the only sociological centre under the direction of the office of a political party in Belarus. The service is not financed by other organisations. It conducts public opinion polls, national and regional research for party needs.

Statistical offices and data they produce

[35]  The main statistical office in Belarus is the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus, that has successfully been collecting information concerning the main characteristics of the country, population, labour, living standards and social sphere, gross domestic product, industry, agriculture, capital investments and construction, transport and communications, domestic and foreign trade, finances, prices and tariffs. Once per 10 years the Ministry conducts a complex research and every year a limited survey of households is carried out. The Ministry also publishes statistical annuals where all the main statistical information is presented. In 2004 the Ministry has published a statistical abstract covering the main indices on the above-mentioned topics in 1995-2004.

[36]  Non-state statistical offices are not widely presented in Belarus. They mostly contain specific and periodic information. Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) Centre for Documentation, for example, is one of the biggest and most systematic ones. As it can be seen from the table below IISEPS’ archive is comparably big (more than 50000 documents) but it is not still comparably rich in empirical research data and quite specific. By the end of 1993 IISEPS got a grant to launch the PROCITE program to improve the archive. Since then new documents have been structured according to a calendar principle (see Table 2).

3. Regulations concerning the access to the data produced by academic social research institutes and statistical offices

As for the free access to empirical data, it does not exist for the scholars

[37]  The present situation concerning the access to empirical data collected by sociological centres and institutions has two aspects. On the one hand information collected by private firms is either in limited access or in the access of the organisations, that have financed the projects. The availability of datasets of private centres is miserable. In order to look at any dataset it is necessary to negotiate with the head of the firm and mainly pay for the access to this information. Even in this case some part of the datasets can be out of reach. On the other hand the access to the data sets collected by state financed organisations which are incomparably bigger in size is also very measured. Institutes do not allow to use their data for any other research institutes or persons from outside. Even within the same institute there is a problem to have free access to the data for someone who does not directly participate in this particular project. So, only the staff involved in a particular research project can use this empirical information. The director of an institute (who is simultaneously a senior researcher responsible for any research within his/her Institute) can give the permission for anyone else to use the Institute’s empirical data upon request. In case the senior researcher has a part-time job at the university (i.e. is teaching), s/he has the right to invite the students to participate in the project and therefore can share the empirical information with them. Actually, almost 40% of the researchers have a part-time job, so, this is a real possibility. Otherwise the empirical information will be kept as a “top secret” from any other researchers for ever.

[38]  For example the empirical data of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences is accessible only for the members of the staff who work on certain issues: these scholars have to order the necessary data from the particular surveys and questions from the Sector of Mathematical Modelling and Statistical Analysis of Data where all the data sets are kept. In case that some scholars want to share their data with their graduate and PhD students they are allowed only to provide these students the relatively old data from the surveys conducted at least two years ago and only simple frequencies of the data without any serious computation is available. This way a number of problems has arisen:

• Sociologists who are not members of the staff do not have access to the information they need. They can not get enough empirical information which is necessary for well-grounded research e.g. to prove or reject hypotheses.
• Sociologists who are members of the staff and doing research have limited access only to the information closely connected with the issues they study and do not have the possibility to include further information that could influence their research indirectly. Therefore they do not have the opportunity to compare and analyse all information involved. The whole idea to provide a well-grounded comparative analysis of any important social or political problem has become questionable.
• As a great part of the data collected by state financed sociological services is not available for a wide use many sociological data and even analytical reports are not in use. That makes this research work non-significant. Meanwhile the information (data sets) is getting older and therefore, the work of these scientists is not very effective under such conditions. There is a possibility that many scholars simply repeat similar surveys as they do not know the results of work of their colleagues in details.
• 4. As most essential nation-wide information is collected by the state financed sociological services the private firms (or at least many of them) do not get enough financial support to create their own empirical data bases. As a result most scientists do not receive enough information to create full and well-grounded sociological research. The public and policy-makers can not rely upon such research for their needs as well.

[39]  At the same time there is quite a serious problem concerning both state and non-state sociological services: about 90-95% of the information collected by these offices has not been analysed (or has been simply described to the sponsors). Taking into account the fact that this information is still not available for the majority of scholars and for the public it is possible to conclude that empirical data processing is not organised properly in Belarus.

[40]  It seems that for state financed organisations such situation could be explained by the state policy orientated to the communist past (when the severe censorship rained). As for the processing of the information by commercial sociological centres this situation can be understood only by the supposition that it is not required by the society or the lack of sponsors who are able to pay to these firms for their datasets. In other words the society is not ready for analysing empirical social information and responding to it.

4. Funding situation of empirical social research

[41]  In general the situation of funding in the sphere of the social sciences (in particular empirical social research) is critical. There is not enough money to finance this kind of research from the state budget. That is why it is necessary to have a non-stop search for sources outside the state budget even for state funded organizations such as the IS (it spends approximately from one third to a half of its budget for empirical research from the state). Table 3 clearly explains the situation of funding of science in general from the state budget. As the empirical research is a part of any organization’s budget one can imagine the problems of the financial support for empirical surveys in Belarus: It is getting smaller.

[42]  If we compare the situation in the field of empirical research in several post Soviet states during the period from 1990 to 2001 we can see common problems of reducing expenses on science and research.

[43]  As it can be seen from the Table 4 the situation of research funding in Belarus is similar to the situation in other countries. Thus, after 1991, all four republics conducted less research. However, if the amount of research in Belarus in 1995 was 44% of the amount of its research in 1991; in Russia it was only 27%; in Moldova 47%, although Ukraine managed to preserve about 53% of the former science financing. From 1996 to 1998 the funding of sciences in Belarus was gradually reduced so that from 1997 to 1998 it was less than in Moldova (although Belarusian science was financed better than the research in Moldova before). At the same time the situation was also getting worse in Ukraine in the late 1990ies. Only Russia managed to recover and gradually increase funding since 1995 when it was less than in Belarus (in per cent).

[44]  Table 4 shows also that during the above mentioned period the funding of science in Belarus was the highest (1,04% of the state budget) in 1999. In Ukraine funding was gradually getting worse but in Russia the situation was vice versa (it was getting better since 1995). In 2000 the expenses on R&D in Belarus decreased by 22% and was “stable” (similar) in 2001. Meanwhile in the other mentioned countries old tendencies were progressing. It could be clearly seen in the Figure 1 below.

[45]  Generally speaking after the break up of the USSR in 1991 funding of science in Belarus had been tremendously decreased and then it has not changed dramatically. Meanwhile, Ukraine had decreased it after 1995, Moldova after 1997, and Russia was trying to regain its former high positions by slightly increasing science donations.

[46]  If speaking of the general percentage of expenditure on R&D;, in Belarus currently it is lower than in Ukraine and Russia but it is higher than in Moldova. Such a picture seems to be natural if taking into account the size of the countries and their background. Table 5 shows the sources for R&D (the picture for social research is even worse).

[47]  It seems interesting to compare the dynamics of financing R&D from the main sources: as the own funding decreased more than two times since 2000 it might be necessary to increase the budget financing in order to balance the situation. However it did not happen. Since 2000 for the reason that science had not been financed properly it could not provide enough finance itself to keep the previous level of R&D. At the same time non-budget funds increased their financing. Foreign financing decreased. Compared with 2001, in 2002 budget financing decreased but all the other sources slightly increased. This situation is presented in Figure 2.

[48]  The biggest non-budget organisation that provides some financial support from the state for the development of science is the National Foundation for Fundamental Research which was created in 1991. Every scholar (or group of scholars) can apply for a grant once a year or two. This is a state-sponsored Foundation that can provide a small amount of money for research, that is not in the State Complex Programmes of Fundamental Research (and therefore it can not be financed from the state budget directly). In this case there can be any research topic and there are no limits on the ratio between the staff salary, on the one side and the money for research and extra needs on the other. However, NFFR does not have a lot of money, so that each scholar (or group of scholars) can apply only for a very reasonable financial support (if the topic is approved by the experts and meets the general scientific criteria).

[49]  In 2002 NFFR’s investments in the social science research made 14,4% of the total Fund’s expenses (1, p.15). In 2001 this index was even less (13,2%). Most of the Fund’s money is spent on research in the fields of physics and mathematics (above 30%). Among the money that is spent on science 63% goes to salaries, 18% goes to current expenses, 15% to material expenses (except the equipment that makes less than 4% of the total spending). This way it seems obvious that budget financing is not enough for the creation of any national data base at the present time. Furthermore, as in 2002 the Belarusian State University was incorporated into the structure of the Ministry of Education the financial support for technical renovation and equipment of BSU has even decreased.

[50]  Figure 3 shows how the National Academy of Sciences conducts its financial activity (1, p.53). According to this figure 32,5% of the total spending is provided by the state budget, 25,3% comes from R&D conducted by commercial organisations; 25% is made by R&D conducted on the basis of budget contracts; 12,3% by non-budget contracts, and 6,9% by non-budget activity of budget organisations.

[51]  There is a common fact that the Academy of Sciences carries out commercial research because applied sciences are widely presented at the National Academy of Sciences while theoretical fundamental science and research, that are completely financed by the State sources, get less and less money from year to year. It is another reason for the fact that there is still no national empirical social data archive in Belarus.

5. Assessment of the potential for establishing a national data archive and views on further development

[52]  To summarize the information on the situation related to the possibility of establishing a national data archive in Belarus it might be worth mentioning that this situation is not very promising. Now let me explain the situation in details:

• The state does not have the money and the political will to establish a data archive at any state-funded scientific organization using state money;
• State-funded sociological organizations are interested in a data archive but they need financial support from outside for this matter. However, even getting a grant for establishing the archive at a particular institution this institution will not be able to collect the datasets from other organizations without a special order (permit) from the government;
• Non-state (private) organizations doing empirical research and keeping a lot of data at their own disposal do not need a national archive as they are interested only in money and not in the development of social sciences and policy-making. They will actively participate up to the level only, that they can receive enough financial support for their old data, not even mentioning the most recent data;
• The community of social scientists in Belarus as part of the European scientific community has a basic interest in establishing a data archive in order to carry independent secondary analysis of the empirical data from the period of the post Soviet decade;
• The European community of social scientists is even more interested in establishing a national data archive in Belarus (as well as in other post Soviet states) because it could provide the unique information on the post Soviet transition and help to do well grounded forecasts for the future development of this region.

[53]  As we can see there are interested parties (scholars in Europe and Belarus) while the existing scientific organizations doing empirical research (both state-funded and privately funded) are not so much interested in the establishment of a national data archive.

[54]  Notwithstanding, there is still a theoretical possibility to establish a data archive in Belarus. On the basis of the findings provided in this report some recommendations on this matter can be made:

• One of the possible actor for establishing a national data archive is the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences. But for the realization of the project the institute needs a special grant and the political will to perform this task.
• Another possible actor could be the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis. Probably this actor is the best one for establishing a national data archive in Belarus. It has the necessary material basis (computers, programs, space for keeping data, and personnel). However this Ministry will need a special grant from non-budget sources.
• The third possible institution for establishing a national data archive could be the IISEPS. It has an experience in establishing an archive and some trained staff. However IISEPS needs a special grant and a state-funded partner (for example, the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences) as well. Otherwise the state-funded organizations will not participate in this kind of project. Under the current political situation in Belarus any private organization will tend to monopolize such an archive and make it non-available for scholars from the state-funded organizations.
• Furthermore it will be necessary to have an official permission from the Government for a data archive to be established in any state funded organization. Otherwise the great amount of the grant money will be spent for paying taxes only.
• In any case some special requirements from the sponsors should be elaborated: (1) free access to the data sets for Belarusian social scientists, (2) free of charge or almost free of charge access to the archive for academics, (3) permission for graduate and PhD students to use this archive on a regular basis (as any other archive).

21 April 2004

References

• M. Myasnikovich, M. and Pleskachevsky, J. (eds) (2004): Atlas of Science of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk: Technoprint 2004;
• Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus (2004): Belarus in Figures. Statistical Abstract, Minsk;
• Sociological Encyclopedia (2003): Minsk;
• Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus (2003): Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk.