Ukrainian National Biographical Archive as a Tool and Material in Ethno-Psychological Research

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the possibilities of using the electronic "Ukrainian National Biographical Archive" (UNBA) in the field of humanitarian knowledge based on a specific applied historical and psychological study. The research methodology is a combination of general scientific methods of analysis of theoretical material and statistical and comparative methods of analysis of specific empirical data, their systematisation and generalisation. The scientific novelty of the research is characterised by the use of information technologies, large volumes of data, and methods of statistical processing in the traditionally humanitarian field of research, which is characterised by a predominantly descriptive approach. Conclusions. On the example of the proposed study, an approach is presented that will allow to significantly expand the possibilities of both specific biographical investigations and studies of socio-historical, ethnological, and historical-psychological directions. Large-scale volumes and detailed structuring of the biographical archive (UNBA) according to its thematic, chronological, and gender distribution allows presenting the system itself as the core of the scientific activity of the virtual historical and biographical laboratory. Analogues of this approach do not exist in Ukraine today due to the uniqueness of the biographical archive (UNBA) itself, which combines the widest possible coverage of national biographical material with its detailed structuring. As a perspective of further research in the presented direction, we see the study of the dynamics of changing the archetypal features of the generalised image of Ukrainians in the temporal perspective. This includes answers to the question: how were the spheres of social activity of men and women correlated in different periods, the scaling of which is possible from centuries to one generation, i.e. 20-30 years? How statistically significant are these changes? We consider another interesting direction to be the identification of archetypal characteristics of Ukrainians depending on the places of social activity, birth, etc. – the so-called geographical rubrics.

Keywords: Ukrainian National Biographical Archive, personalities, archetypes, thematic headings, domains, statistics.