We will teach you how to write competent interview questions and draw the right conclusions from the answers. Let's look at HR mistakes when working with projective questions.

From the article you will learn:

Useful materials on the topic:

Purpose of Projective Questions

When one person wants to explain the behavior of another, he relies on his own experience. The method of projective questions is based on this. You ask the applicant as if about another person, or about people in general, he also answers as if about someone else, but in fact about himself.

HR often includes projective questions in interviews to understand:

• what values ​​does the candidate have, how loyal and honest is he;
• what is his motivation and life priorities;
• how he sees the relationship with the future leader;
• how he really feels about conflicts;
• what plans does he have for his further professional development, etc.

For example, if you want to find out from a person what values ​​he will adhere to in the company, ask him the question: “ Why is it justified to fire an employee immediately?»?

If you want projective questions to work 100%, distribute them throughout the interview. Start with a block of projective questions, then use them in competency interviews and then in the final stage of the interview. It all depends on the situation and the candidate.

★ Please note that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers to projective questions. There are those that simply do not coincide with the company’s idea of ​​behavioral norms and values. Experts from the HR Director magazine sorted out

Examples of projective questions

Examples of projective questions are divided by topic. The topic of the question depends on its purpose, i.e. what you want to know about the candidate.

Subject	Sample questions
The candidate’s values, how loyal and honest he is	Why good specialists leaving companies? Why do people steal from some companies and not from others?
Candidate motivation	What makes people work? Why do some employees enjoy working?
Attitude to conflicts	Describe the most typical conflict in a team. What are its reasons?
Candidate's career interests	Why do people strive to make a career? What usually prevents people from building a career? Why does a person choose a profession, and after a few years retrain and look for work in another field?

Download the table in full

How to ask projective questions: 6 rules

1. When formulating a question, make sure that it is really about other people and does not contain a hint about the candidate.
2. Use open questions. This means that the question cannot be answered only “Yes” or “No”, you need to explain why. For example, “Why do people quit?”
3. Ask questions at a fast pace, but so that the candidate has time to understand you. The main thing is to reduce the time for thinking. The candidate must give spontaneous answers, i.e. the first thing that comes to mind.
4. Don’t ask several questions in a row on the same topic (for example, career or conflicts). This increases the likelihood that the candidate will understand your intentions and begin to give the “correct” answers.
5. Try to connect the projective question with the topic of the previous conversation.
6. Record your answers on paper. Pay special attention to the first words in the candidate's answer. Most likely, these are the most important reasons from his point of view (say, “underestimated”, “underpaid”). More personal reasons may also appear in the candidate’s answer: “the relationship with the manager is not going well,” “I have to do a lot of extra work.”

Advice from an expert. Make a gentle transition before asking projective questions. Discuss the candidate's interests and hobbies, thereby defusing the situation and creating an atmosphere of relaxed communication. Such conditions are most suitable for conversation on abstract topics, as the answer to a projective question should seem to the applicant. Then the person will relax, be in a positive mood, be more inclined to have a frank conversation and answer truthfully.

Possible problems that HR managers face when using projective questions

Problem	How to overcome
The type of answer “Everything is different” depends on the person, etc.	Insist on naming three or four main factors to get a real answer.
A vague answer, such as “self-realization”, “usefulness”, etc.	Ask the candidate to explain how he understands and interprets these meanings
Answer type: “Me personally”	Ask two or three more questions about the topic. Matches in direct answers can be considered reliable
The candidate does not give an answer for quite a long time	Ask them to think and still give an answer (this happens if a person has not encountered this or has not thought about it)
The answer is neutral and does not reveal negative or positive aspects	After listening to the answer, ask a direct question to clarify what is positive and negative for the candidate

How to interpret projective questions: an example

Let's look at an example of interpreting answers to the question “ Why do people steal in some companies (work to the deceit), while in others they don’t?».

Answer 1. “They don’t steal where everyone works as one team. It turns out that you are stealing from your own.”

Interpretation: positive motivation for honesty. The common cause and team are the most important thing for a person.

Answer 2. “You have to pay normally, no one will steal.”

Interpretation: negative motivation for honesty, i.e. If they pay little, then you can steal. When receiving such an answer, you should carefully evaluate the candidate’s honesty and try to “probe” him in other ways.

Answer 3.“There’s probably nothing to steal.”

Interpretation: negative motivation for honesty, i.e. If there is something to steal, we will steal it. The case is similar to the previous one. The candidate requires additional verification.

Answer 4. “So, we managed to find honest employees.”

Interpretation: positive motivation for honesty. There is no subjective justification for dishonesty in this answer: it all depends on the type of person.

★ Conscientious applicants who are actively considering offers will usually read instructions online on how to answer projective questions, so be careful when interpreting the answers.

HR mistakes when working with projective issues

1. HR formulates the question too broadly and generally

Essentially, this is a question for the sake of asking a question. It doesn't help evaluate the candidate in any way. For example, “Why do people work?”

1. HR is too straightforward in interpreting the applicant’s answer

For example, to the question: “What makes a person work better?” the applicant answers: “Praise and recognition.” From his answer, HR concludes that salary is not important for the applicant.

1. HR uses projective questions when selecting HR managers, recruiters, and trainers

They immediately understand what they want from them and give a socially oriented answer, i.e. the technique doesn't work.

How to Assess Financial Motivation Using Projective Questions

Using projective questions, you can find out what the candidate wanted to hide during the interview.

There is this type of projective questions, having received answers to which you will be able with a high degree of probability to assess which factor in this moment has for the applicant the most higher value- material or intangible. These are, for example, questions: “Why do people earn more?”, “What does it mean to achieve success at work?”, “What makes people raise personal effectiveness work activity?

Teach that if a candidate's answer mentions a motivator more than three times, then it means more to them. So, having heard the answers: “Success at work is when you received a bonus, a bonus more than other employees,” “A person will not strive to change jobs if he is paid a competitive salary,” “A person is motivated to work effectively by the opportunity to influence the size of the bonus,” we can conclude that in front of you is a candidate with a predominant financial motivation. When you hear the phrase “fair pay” in his answer, pay attention to it. This means that the main thing for a person is not just the amount, albeit significant, but the ratio of the reward received to the effort expended, qualifications, experience, etc.

Example

If material motivation is high, most likely you will hear the following phrases: “I want to earn good money to buy a car, an apartment,” “If the manager considers me a valuable specialist, he will give me a bonus or raise my salary.” But when you hear the answers: “I want my job to give me the opportunity to express myself and develop professionally” or “For me, the main thing in work is a calm atmosphere and close to home,” it is clear that the material factor in this case is not the main thing. One applicant wrote in her questionnaire that the most important thing for her was an interesting job and the opportunity for self-realization, so she started searching new job. But during the projective interview it turned out that she was very offended by her last leader who did not fairly evaluate her contribution to the work, she is more satisfied bonus system incentives, and the time-based wage system is of much less interest to her.

How to find out whether a candidate is team-oriented and will be able to join the team

Don't ask too many projective questions. Five to ten will be enough

Projective questions will help you find out how team-oriented the candidate is and what type of people he prefers to see as his colleagues. Such questions include: “Why do you think people cannot find a common language with their colleagues?”, “What character qualities do you think are most significant in other people?”, “Which team can be called good?”, “Why not everyone can maintain constructive relationships with employees in other departments? Please note that any answer to a projective question cannot be considered right or wrong. They simply show how quickly the applicant can adapt to a new team and how his business relationships with colleagues will develop.

Even before asking the above questions during an interview with a candidate, ask those employees who already work in your company to answer them. Compare the answers that the candidate gives with their answers. When analyzing the applicant's answers, also pay attention to the extent to which they maintain a balance between personal and work relationships. In my practice, there was a case when a girl who described her dream team as “fun and friendly” was hired, being considered ready to interact in a team. But personal relationships were more important to her, so she left the team very quickly, where business-like working relationships reigned.

Example

Projective interview questions will help you find out how the candidate feels about team interaction. Ask him: “Why do some people prefer to work in a team while others prefer to work alone?” The candidate who is focused on team interaction will most likely answer: “By working in a team, you can have more contact with colleagues, overcome difficulties together and achieve results faster. It’s hard for me to judge why some people like to work alone.”

It’s good if the applicant mentions the advantages teamwork in relation to the position for which he is applying. For example, it focuses on concepts such as “achieve a goal”, “ effective work", "concerted actions", "interchangeability". It is undesirable if the applicant is not ready to say anything about this.

Answering the question: “What can be considered a good team?”, the individualistic candidate will experience difficulties; his answer will be evasive and non-specific. The applicant who is ready to work in a team will most likely provide several examples from his practice.

Olesya Baturko, Deputy HR Director of the GUTA Group

I ask the candidate to tell in more detail about some aspects of his biography and see what his motives are

When interviewing candidates for top positions, it is important to identify them key motivation. To do this, I use traditional assessment tools used in combination - cases, projective, open and awkward questions. For example, when talking with a candidate about the reasons for moving from one job to another, I pay attention to the way he talks (non-verbal communication). Most applicants tell a prepared story. But I ask you to dwell in more detail on some points that seemed interesting, and ask more specific questions. Thanks to this, the true motives of the candidate’s behavior become clear. This allows us to see not only whether a candidate is suitable for us or not, but also how to manage him.

How to assess a candidate's conflict tolerance

The use of projective questions, specifically designed to identify a person’s conflict level, will help the recruiting manager discover the main problem areas and the reasons that can cause a conflict situation in different cases (organization, colleagues, clients).

Ask the candidate to describe the most typical conflict in a team and analyze the reasons that provoked it. Let him list what causes him dislike in the work environment, name the client who will be the most problematic for the company?

Example

In classic work situations conflict refers to undesirable qualities, so rarely any applicant is ready to honestly declare his quarrelsome character. And in such cases, projective questions again come to the aid of recruiters. Ask the candidate to comment on cases such as:

• Your colleague is speaking at a meeting. He voices his position, which is fundamentally different from yours, proving that he is right quite emotionally. What solution can you suggest?
• The man was hired and came to new team. Colleagues are clearly hostile towards the newcomer. How can you overcome such a negative attitude towards yourself?
• Are there cases when conflict situations can be justified and even serve the benefit of the cause?
• A long-time business partner or strategically important client very emotionally expresses complaints against an employee who is not personally to blame for the controversial situation (the work failure was the fault of another department). What actions should you take?

If a candidate is applying for a leadership position, he needs such a quality as the ability to manage conflicts. When we're talking about about the selection of applicants for such positions, it is best to use special cases that help assess this competency. Examples of such cases are in the table below.

Cases that will help assess the “Conflict Management” competency

Case	An answer that should alert you	Explanation
IN work collective appeared new employee, who is very valuable as a professional, but creates a negative attitude among colleagues towards you, thereby undermining your authority. Where is the exit?	Directive dismissal of a “saboteur” in front of others	The candidate does not try to understand the reasons for the employee’s behavior. This way, only the external component of the issue can be eliminated. There is a high risk that it is unlikely that it will be possible to get to the bottom of the problem
You have joined a new company in a management position to implement a project involving a lot of innovation. At the same time, most other top managers reject all proposals and constantly put a spoke in the wheels. What to do?	Using administrative resources, for example, attracting the business owner to your side	The candidate does not try to solve the assigned tasks through the negotiation process. This may lead to further development conflict situation

When analyzing the answers, it is necessary to assess the degree of conflict of a person, taking into account how serious or, conversely, insignificant are the reasons that the applicant names as causes of conflicts. For example, there was a case when customer acquisition managers were recruited into the sales department. The HR manager asked one of the candidates the question: “What could become a reason for a conflict with a client?” The applicant cited as an example the fact that the client vaguely and unclearly formulates his needs. But such a reason cannot serve as a reason for disagreement, and the given answer indicates an increased tendency to conflicts and an inability to constructively interact with clients, identifying their needs.

How to define the manager-employee relationship

HR managers cite disagreements between boss and subordinate both in professional matters and in life attitudes and views as one of the most common reasons for dismissal. Already at the stage personnel selection it is necessary to determine what the applicant's preferences are in relation to the manager.

To do this, you can use the following projective questions: “How can a boss gain authority and respect from his subordinates?”, “For what reasons is a responsible and conscientious employee may not fulfill the manager’s instructions?”, “What character qualities should a manager not have?” To be sure that you correctly understood the answer and what the applicant meant, ask clarifying questions. Analysis of the candidate's answers will allow you to get an accurate idea of ​​whether interaction with the manager will be constructive and whether the applicant will be able to realize himself professionally.

Example

At the interview stage, it was revealed that the candidate would not be able to work well with the potential manager. To the question: “What kind of environment is necessary for an employee to fully reveal his potential and be able to work as efficiently as possible?”, the applicant answered: “When the boss values ​​​​his subordinate and rewards him for the results of his activities. When he trusts his subordinates, setting goals for them and giving them complete freedom in choice optimal option solving the problem." It is clear from the answer that the candidate highly evaluates his abilities, he can make independent decisions and is ready to report to the manager on the final results of his work. But at the same time, he does not accept step-by-step control; it demotivates him. The candidate will not be able to work well with a manager whose style involves controlling the work at every stage.

How to determine a candidate's motivation?

In my work, I quite often have to deal with issues of employee motivation in the Company. Employers strive to motivate their subordinates: financially (kpi, bonuses, bonuses for length of service, etc.) and intangibly (recognition, constant presence on the honor roll, Personal Area etc.). IN large companies departments are organized that study issues of personnel motivation, on which colossal budgets are spent, which leads to the inevitable emergence of additional costs for the employer, as well as to loss valuable employees, if the reasons for the employee’s demotivation were not identified and eliminated in a timely manner. If the manager can identify problems with motivation without much difficulty with employees who have been working for the Company for more than one year, then serious difficulties may arise with an employee who has been working for the Company recently.

To ensure that the manager of the future employee does not encounter detailed problems, the recruiter, even at the interview stage, needs to identify the motivation of the potential employee.

Let's still figure out what motivation is? Motivation is a set of personal motives determined by the character of the individual, his value orientation and his guiding activities. The recruiter needs to identify the types of personal motives that motivate the applicant to do his job with the greatest efficiency, as well as identify possible demotivators and the time period after which a potential candidate may lose interest in the work being performed. In order to determine the candidate’s motivation, I suggest using the works of Maslow. According to Abraham Maslow's theory, each person has his own needs (Fig. 1).

rice. 1. Pyramid of needs

Many companies use various methods when interviewing a candidate: S.T.A.R. (interview on competencies), CASE interview (situational interview), structured, unstructured interview. The questions below would fit perfectly into either method.

The mechanics of conducting interviews to determine the motivation of a potential candidate.

The questions that we will outline in this article are applicable in interviews with candidates applying for both linear and TOP positions. According to legend, we are looking for KAM (Key Account Manager)/key account manager for a large Russian Company FMCG market.

1. Criteria for choosing a potential employer.

During a telephone interview, I often ask a potential candidate: “By what criteria do you choose a potential employer? List the 5 main criteria in order of importance, from most significant to least significant.”

Let's assume that the candidate meets the following criteria:

1. Stability of the Company (need for security).

2. Income level (need for respect).

3. Functionality, job responsibilities etc. (need for respect).

4. Opportunity for professional and personal growth(need for self-actualization).

5. Team (need to belong).

The applicant's answers must be recorded. The candidate himself slightly reveals his expectations from a potential employer and the main motivators when looking for a job.

2. The reasons why you changed your job.

During a personal interview, we will provide the candidate with the opportunity to make a short self-presentation (no more than 10 minutes). The candidate will need to talk about key achievements in his work, as well as the reason why he changed this or that job.

Let's assume that the applicant has 12 years of work experience, during which time he has worked in 5 Companies. Main reasons for changing jobs:

1. Low level wages. (need for respect).

2. Lack of opportunities for career growth. (need for self-actualization).

3. Didn’t get along well with colleagues/supervisor. (need to belong).

4. Delay in payment wages. (need for security).

5. Unattainable plans, goals, objectives. (need for respect).

The candidate's answers are correlated with the answers given during the telephone interview. Reasons 3 and 5 for changing jobs are quite common. If the candidate mentions these reasons, then the recruiter needs to interview the applicant in more detail about the reasons for changing jobs. Already at this stage it is possible to identify in the candidate: lack of effectiveness, lack of required level communication skills, conflict tolerance, etc.

3. Where do you see yourself in two years?

This question is asked very often, and it is one of the “most favorite” questions among job seekers. However, this question can very well illustrate the candidate’s motivators. It is important to ask this question when confident communications have been built with the candidate, i.e. the applicant does not give socially significant (socially expected) answers. So, we ask the question: “Where do you see yourself in two years?” Please note that this question is asked in exactly this form.

Possible answers:

1. Head of Key Accounts/NKAM Department. (need for self-actualization).

2. An excellent family man. (need to belong).

3. Become an expert in your field (cognitive needs).

4. Open own business. (need for self-actualization).

5. Work in the same position. (need for security).

The answer is recorded. In most cases, the recruiter forms a clear image of the potential candidate’s motivation system.

4. Life priorities.

We ask the candidate to voice the 5 most important priorities in life in order of importance, from greatest to least. A tricky question. About 37% of candidates, one in three, never think about work when answering this question.

Let's assume that the candidate names the following criteria:

1. Family. (need to belong).

2. Income. (need for respect).

3. Hobby. (aesthetic need).

4. Work (need for self-actualization).

5. Self-development. (need for self-actualization).

For a recruiter, it can be a wake-up call if a candidate does not mention work in his life priorities. When collecting recommendations, in 38% of cases, candidates who did not mention work in their answers came negative reviews(both from partner companies and former employers).

The most important tool for an HR specialist. Questions related to the candidate’s motivation need to be systematized. In my practice, to obtain the most valid characteristics of a candidate, I try to use several sources:

1. Contacts that the candidate himself leaves.

2. Call colleagues at the candidate’s last company (only if the candidate no longer works for the Company).

3. Call to general partners from the manager structural unit(if the candidate is from our market).

Getting information from different sources, allows you to get the most accurate description of the candidate. Pre-prepared questions will help determine the candidate’s motivation system.

Conclusion.

This technique will allow, with a high degree of probability, to determine the motivation of a future employee. Determining an employee’s motivation at the initial stages will allow us to weed out unsuitable candidates and select and form a career tree for a suitable candidate.

All management ultimately comes down to stimulating the activity of other people.Lee Iacoca

We were able to find out the candidate's motivation:

1. How do the potential candidate’s goals correlate with the Company’s goals?

2. How can you motivate this employee?

3. What factors may influence the dismissal of a potential employee?

4. After what period of time will an employee become uninterested in the functionality being performed?

¹- Modern Dictionary Russian language Efremova

Chapter III. The art of asking questions and getting answers

Obtaining strictly defined knowledge requires a variety of forms and methods of constructing a question and its structure.

Perhaps for the first time, the problem of constructing a question became urgent when developing an artificial, formal language, for example, the language of a sociological questionnaire. The richness of social phenomena and the need to obtain various information, as they say, for all occasions, have determined the task of developing (most often borrowing from a living language) types of questions that are different in form and content.

When entering into communication with a respondent through a system of questions and answers, the sociologist must be firmly confident that the respondent adequately understands the content of the question and that the answer is adequate to the content of the question. The clear knowledge necessary for a sociologist about what information a question and an answer carry and, accordingly, what objective reality they reflect, is possible only if there is general knowledge about the nature of question-answer relationships, the laws and patterns of their development and the rules for constructing a question.

Factual and motivational questions

Of the variety of questions, we can single out those that record an action that has already taken place and indicate the presence of some fact. For example, he quit his job, bought a color TV, vacationed at sea, has a library, etc. These are so-called factual questions. They are usually clearly defined in time: “Have you had permanent job within the last year?"

Factual questions are one of the main types of survey questions and play an important role in sociological research. First of all, they are interesting in that, having recorded an already accomplished fact, deed, action, they no longer depend at the time of the question on the opinion of the respondent, his condition, assessment, etc. This makes it possible to obtain an objective picture of certain aspects of people’s activities. Thus, when determining the standard of living of certain social groups, one can follow the path of determining it by the respondents themselves. The respondents’ opinion about themselves is also of interest and may be necessary when solving a particular problem. But it is possible to construct a system of indicators that record only the fact of economic well-being, say, the presence of a car, apartment, furniture, household items, etc., and based on the analysis of these data, derive a general objective assessment of the standard of living of the groups being studied. The conclusions of these two studies may be very different. I don’t know how it is in other countries, but in Russia they like to make themselves poor, they always underestimate the level of their well-being. And only factual data allows us to obtain a more or less accurate picture.

Factual questions are usually not difficult to understand or difficult to answer. True, some of them may require good memory and significant mental effort, when the researcher, for example, asks about the distant past or asks to sum up some actions or average them: “How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?”, “What is the average Are you studying?”, “How do you usually spend your free time?” etc. The average in this case is not an assessment of activity, but some average action.

In this regard, it is worth noting some features of factual questions relating to the distant past and future action.

Factual questions, as already noted, record what has happened, facts independent of the respondent’s assessment. But there is a danger here, if it concerns the distant past, that the fact (of presence, action) can be perceived through a qualitative assessment of the situation. For example, we ask how many square meters of living space the respondent had 15 years ago. Most of those surveyed remember this at best approximately. The size of a home in these cases is often fixed through qualitative definitions: large or small room, i.e. such as it remained in the respondent’s perception. Accordingly, the idea of ​​the size of the room changes. Once examining the living conditions of the respondents, which they had 15 years ago, we unexpectedly found out that depending on the increase or retention of the number of people living in the apartment, its total footage in the perception of the residents decreases or increases. This can be explained by the fact that an overcrowded apartment is perceived as small, and a sparsely populated apartment is perceived as large.

And although in the example given, the respondents’ answer was expressed in some quantitative units, in fact, information was taken here about the respondents’ assessment of their living conditions. As we can see, a substitution of concepts occurred, as a result of which the information received did not reflect the reality that was studied by the sociologist.

It is more difficult to analyze the events of past years, because consciously or not the respondent considers them in the context of today, the modern situation and accordingly transforms his action, his assessment, sincerely believing that this is how it really happened. It is no coincidence that the past often seems better than the present.

Factual questions concerning future action are of a different nature. When a sociologist asks what a respondent would do if he met a hooligan on the street, he actually takes away information not about the fact of behavior, but an attitude towards action. If the respondent answers that he would definitely fight back (in fact, the opposite is often the case), then his answer does not reflect real behavior, but only his opinion on this action, which is far from the same thing.

The main disadvantage of factual questions is that they do not study action in development, they only record a fact, giving a snapshot. However, this information is often not enough to understand the causes of a particular phenomenon. That is why, to study the deep origins of this or that phenomenon, to correctly assess certain socio-economic and spiritual processes, sociologists use so-called motivational questions.

They have several forms and, accordingly, different purposes: they relieve the intensity of the process, find out the motives of behavior, evaluate the activity (through the opinion of respondents), find out personal attitudes, value orientations, show the direction of the process, etc.

The intensity of the process is removed by questions of this type: how often, rarely, more, less? Let's say: "How often do you watch TV?" (answer options: very often, often, rarely, very rarely, I don’t watch TV). Questions that examine the intensity of a process are used quite readily by sociologists, but they are difficult to analyze because their interpretation is not the same for different people.

“What does it mean to take a long time to get home in a big or small city?” In both cases, respondents can answer that they spend a lot of time, but for a city like Moscow, this will mean about an hour and a half, and for a city like, say, Vladimir, only fifteen minutes.

"What does it mean to watch TV often?" For a person with higher education this is on average one to two hours a day, for people with primary education it can be five or six hours. Therefore, when analyzing answers like “often”, “rarely”, “more”, “less”, etc., it is necessary first of all to clearly know how respondents understand these words, since their understanding may be very different from the researcher’s attitude.

Motivational questions are very attractive to sociologists. They are often used in the study of public opinion, for example during elections.

Motivational questions give an idea of ​​the respondent’s attitudes, how he understands and perceives certain events, etc. Without going into a detailed analysis of the essence of motivational behavior and the value of studying it for sociological research, we will only note that they are interesting primarily as a kind of ideal model of human behavior. But the ideal idea and real behavior are far from the same thing.

The ideal idea, formed on the basis of past experience, in specific behavior is mediated by the real situation and living conditions. We ask women how many children they would like to have. Most often they answer: two or three children. In fact, the majority have one child, at least in Moscow.

Questionnaires also often ask the respondent to evaluate the prestige of a particular job, certain events, actions, determine their attitude to a particular phenomenon, etc. Typical questions: “Please tell me, how do you evaluate the work of your deputy?”, “Are you satisfied with your work?” etc.

These questions, in a general approach, are aimed at ascertaining the respondent's opinion. As you know, sociologists mainly study public opinion. It is no coincidence that most survey questions begin with the words: “In your opinion...?”, “What do you think...?”, “What opportunities, in your opinion, are there...?” etc. In the practice of using motivational questions, it is necessary to indicate evaluation criteria or be able to agree on concepts. Without determining what the respondent and the researcher mean, how they understand this or that phenomenon, the sociologist runs the risk of inadequately assessing the respondent’s answers.

When studying the level of cultural development of any groups, we can, in principle, limit ourselves to a direct question: “How do you assess your level of cultural development?”, offering respondents some kind of scale. What does the information obtained give the researcher, through such a direct question, through self-assessment? Only that the respondents assessed themselves in such and such a way. But how much this information, meets some general criteria for the level of cultural development for a given group? The only thing that can be said is that the data on the level of cultural development obtained through self-assessment are a reflection of some of the respondents’ own criteria.

Such information is of little value if reference points and evaluation criteria are not selected. Such criteria are established and determined by other issues. The researcher sets this criterion by formulating a series of questions, for example, about the presence of cultural items in the family, about visiting cultural institutions, etc. By ranking the respondents' answers according to some significance, the sociologist determines the level of cultural development of the groups of people being studied. The researcher can correlate his criterion, the level of cultural development, with the level of development as defined by the respondents themselves and thereby identify deviations, how high or low it is, how objective their self-esteem is, etc., which will allow determining the structure and direction of cultural consumption of various groups of respondents .

In order for the researcher and the respondent to speak the same language and understand each other, it is necessary to formulate control questions in the questionnaire. For example, after the question “Please tell me, do you have a large library at home?” (answer: “Large”) the following question is asked: “Can you name the approximate number of books in your library?” (answer: “About 100 books”). Security question We determine what the respondent understands by “large library.” By analyzing his idea of ​​a “big library” and relating it to the common understanding or to the understanding of the researcher, it is possible to determine some qualities of the respondent, for example, whether he is willing to present himself in a more favorable light.

Thus, in order to determine the correctness of the respondent’s understanding of a particular phenomenon, it is necessary to correlate it with another understanding. This other understanding may be the point of view of the researcher himself. By correlating the respondents’ answers with their own ideas, the sociologist can make a conclusion to what extent the respondent correctly understands the phenomenon being studied. But strictly speaking, neither the researcher nor the respondent can claim that their understanding is true, i.e. to what extent the understanding of the phenomenon being studied by the researcher and the respondent coincides with such an understanding that reflects objective reality. A sociologist, of course, can accept his point of view as true and fully satisfy his research objectives, but this does not yet prove that his understanding corresponds to objective reality. To do this, it is necessary to introduce a third criterion. For example, take as a basis such an understanding of the phenomenon of an object, which is accepted in the scientific literature and which has received good check in numerous sociological studies. As a criterion, we can take the understanding of the phenomena of the object by some expert group. The latter is typical for cases when it is necessary to define a poorly developed concept. In this way, a coordination grid is created, where respondents’ answers find their place and have clear coordinates.

Public opinion is special world with its own internal laws and dialectics of development. How public opinion is being formed? How does it affect public consciousness and behavior? What objective processes does it reflect? Ultimately, everything is determined by people endowed with consciousness, will, possessing value orientations, interested in solving certain problems, and having a real idea of ​​how to achieve their goals. In turn, objective reality, independent of the consciousness of an individual, influences the formation of public opinion and public consciousness. The relationship between these phenomena is very complex and not yet fully understood. However, we can say with confidence that only a comprehensive, close study of the motives of representation and real behavior in their relationship to each other makes it possible to clarify the role of both in the problem under study and to identify the causes of a particular phenomenon.

Often, due to the understanding of the essential difference between two forms of social existence, namely ideal representation and real behavior, they are mixed, and then motives act as causes of behavior. Respondents' answers regarding behavioral reasons are often taken by sociologists as reasons, resulting in unfounded recommendations. Ideal and real people's behavior, their attitudes and actions may not coincide completely or partially and may even be opposite to each other.

Of course, it does not follow from the above that studying the motives of behavior does not allow one to discover the real reasons. Motives of behavior contain a greater or lesser proportion of information that reflects, to one degree or another, real processes, through the study of which one can find an approach to identifying the causes of behavior.

The main disadvantage of factual questions is that they do not study action in development, but only record a fact, giving a snapshot. However, this information is often not enough to understand the causes of a particular phenomenon. That is why, to study the deep origins of this or that phenomenon, to correctly assess certain socio-economic and spiritual processes, sociologists use so-called motivational questions aimed at clarifying the value orientations of people and the motives of their behavior.

For example, intensity is removed by questions of this kind: how often, rarely, more, less. Let's say: "How often do you watch TV?" (answer options: very often, often, rarely, very rarely). Questions that record the intensity of the process are actively used by sociologists, but they are difficult to analyze because their interpretation may be different between the researcher and the respondents.

"What does it mean to watch TV often?" For a person with higher education This is on average one to two hours a day; for people with primary education it can be five or six hours. Therefore, when analyzing respondents’ answers such as “often”, “rarely”, “more”, “less”, etc., it is necessary first of all to determine what they understand by these terms.

“What does it mean to take a long time to get home in a big or small city?” In both cases, respondents can answer that they spend a lot of time, but for a city like Moscow, this will mean about an hour, and for a city like, say, Vladimir, fifteen minutes.

Without going into a detailed analysis of motivational behavior and the value of studying it for sociological research, we will only note that it is interesting as a kind of ideal model of human behavior. But the ideal idea and real behavior are far from the same thing. The ideal idea, formed on the basis of past experience, is mediated by the real situation in specific behavior.

We ask women how many children they would like to have. The most common answer is: two or three children. In fact, the majority have one child, at least in Moscow.

When using motivational questions, it is necessary to indicate the evaluation criterion or agree on concepts. Without determining what the respondent and the researcher mean, how they understand this or that phenomenon, the sociologist runs the risk of inadequately assessing the respondents’ answers.

To study the level of cultural development of any groups, we can, in principle, limit ourselves to a direct question: “How do you assess your level of cultural development?”, offering respondents one or another scale. What does the information obtained through a direct question, through self-assessment, give the researcher? Only that the respondents assessed themselves in such and such a way. But to what extent does this information correspond to the general criteria of the level of cultural development for this group? The only thing that can be said is that the data on the level of cultural development obtained through self-assessment are a reflection of some of the respondents’ own criteria.

Such information is of little value if reference points are not chosen. Evaluation criteria are established and determined by other issues. The researcher sets a criterion by formulating a series of questions, for example, about the presence of cultural items in the family, about visiting cultural institutions, etc. By ranking them according to the respondents’ answers on a scale of significance, the sociologist determines the level of cultural development of the groups being studied. The researcher can correlate his idea of ​​the level of cultural development with the level of development determined by the respondents, and thereby identify deviations, how overestimated or underestimated it is, how objective the respondents’ self-esteem is, etc.

So, for example, after the question “Please tell me, do you have a large library at home?” (answer: “Large”) the following question is asked: “Can you name the approximate number of books in your library?” (answer: “About 100 books”). We use a control question to determine what the respondent understands by “large library.” By analyzing his idea of ​​a "big library" and relating it to the general understanding or to the understanding of the researcher, it is possible to determine certain qualities of the respondent, for example, whether he is willing to present himself in a more favorable light.

Thus, in order to determine the correctness of the respondent’s understanding of a particular phenomenon, it is necessary to correlate it with the understanding of another person. This other person, his understanding, can be the researcher himself. By correlating the respondents’ answers with their own ideas, the sociologist can make a conclusion about how correctly the respondent understands the phenomenon being studied. But, strictly speaking, neither the researcher nor the respondent can claim that their understanding is true, i.e. to what extent the understanding of the phenomenon being studied by the researcher and the respondent reflects objective reality. A sociologist, of course, can accept his point of view as true and fully satisfy his research objectives, but this does not mean that his understanding corresponds to objective reality. To prove such a correspondence, it is necessary to introduce a third criterion, for example, to take as a basis such an understanding of the object, which is accepted in the scientific literature and which has been well verified in numerous sociological studies. Or take as a criterion the understanding of the object by some expert group. The latter is used in cases where it is necessary to define an insufficiently developed concept. This creates, as it were, a coordination grid in which respondents’ answers find their place and have clear guidelines.

Often, due to the understanding of differences, two forms of social existence, namely ideal representation and real behavior, are mixed, and then motives act as causes of behavior. Respondents' answers regarding behavioral reasons are often taken by sociologists as reasons, resulting in unfounded recommendations. The ideal and real behavior of people, their attitudes and actions may not coincide and even be opposite to each other.

It does not follow from the above that the motives of behavior do not allow us to discover the real reasons. Motives of behavior contain a greater or lesser proportion of information that reflects, to one degree or another, real processes, through the study of which one can find an approach to identifying the causes of behavior.

September 5, 2016 Business coach. IP Vysotskaya A.B.

Questions about staff motivation: why doesn’t money motivate?

When asked about employee motivation, we are all accustomed to thinking first of all about salary increases. However, experience shows that this rarely works. Why is money not a motivator, but an incentive? And what really can motivate employees? Let's understand incentives and learn to identify real motivators

Almost always during motivation training, the question “What do you think motivates employees?” I hear an automatic response: “ Money" What is the reason for this automatism? We are all accustomed to thinking that we go to work for a salary: “if you need money, go earn it.” As you can probably guess, this question is tricky, and here's why.

I myself ran my own company for several years and more than once came across a situation: an employee asked for a raise for a long time, we found a way to do it (for example, we introduced additional responsibilities), but then - and here’s the paradox! - for some reason the employee did not work better. For about the first week or two, productivity does improve, but then everything returns to normal.

Because, as experience shows, in most cases money acts as a short-term incentive, not a long-term motivator.

In what difference between incentive and motivator? These and other questions regarding staff motivation are very important. A stimulus is an external influence directed at an object (in this case, an employee). As soon as it stops or as soon as the object adapts to it, the stimulus disappears. Motivation is a force that is usually located inside an object and, unlike stimulation, does not depend on external influences.

At the same training we do a simple exercise. Imagine being offered a job with a very large salary and moving to a tropical island. You are provided with housing and are fully provided with everything you need (food, clothing, household items, etc.). Dream job, right? (At this point, almost all participants are ready to accept such an offer). However, there is one condition - you cannot leave the island for 50 years: only after this time will your contract end and you will be paid your entire salary (you will not be able to use the money until the end of the contract). How do you think this influences participants' decisions to accept a job?

Few people take into account that people are motivated not by money, but by the opportunities it provides them: for example, to buy what they have long wanted, to improve the level and quality of life of their family, etc. True, if a person lives on the edge of survival and his salary is only enough to pay for housing, food and travel to work, an increase in salary and incentive bonuses become the main motivator. But, as soon as these basic needs are satisfied, money will certainly fade into the background and again turn into an incentive.

What then motivates people?

A huge variety of different things: career, status, team, recognition, etc. Each person has his own set of non-financial motivators, by identifying and satisfying which we get an effective and loyal employee.

But how can you identify them without making mistakes?

The worst thing you can do here is simply start guessing motivators at random. Many managers, calling a promising employee for a conversation, first offer to increase the salary, then promote him or transfer him to a new position. promising project... where do they get such confidence that a person is interested in this? “Don’t ask directly!” - participants tell me at the training.

Certainly, It’s also not worth asking directly. Firstly, such a direct question can easily confuse you, and the employee will be embarrassed to tell you. Secondly, many employees are rarely aware of their own motivators, so they are unlikely to be able to give you a list.

In my practice, the following methods work great:

• Observing the employee - what kind of work he prefers (individual or group), how he communicates with the team, how he participates in the life of the company, how often he takes initiatives and what their nature is, how boldly he takes on new tasks, etc.;
• Projective questions are questions written in such a way that the employee, while giving general answers, is actually talking about himself. It is ideal to give a questionnaire with projective questions directly at the interview (this helps to reveal the candidate, sometimes even better than a personal conversation), however, nothing prevents you from filling it out at any other time. An example of a projective question: “What do people like about work?”
• Motivational conversation - when the manager invites the employee to discuss future prospects, asks about the desire to participate in projects or new tasks, and asks for the employee’s opinion

These methods can be used simultaneously to get the most complete picture. For example, when interviewing for my company, I always used a questionnaire with projective questions, included a motivational conversation in the interview, and then tested the results in practice, adjusting them if necessary.

And most importantly, do not forget that it is important not so much to identify the employee’s motivators and determine the main ones among them (after all, there are usually more than two of them). Much more important later be able to satisfy them, and, if necessary, create new motivators that will allow employees (and therefore your company) to become more effective and successful.