Two Facets of Methodology

This review focuses on two recently published books on the methodology of psychology. It reveals the specificity of the approaches to the problem of methodology presented in the books and emphasises the differences in their genres (a textbook and a monograph; this difference results in a higher level of objectivity of the book by Kornilova and Smirnov and in a higher level of subjectivity of the book by Yurevich) as well as their interrelation and mutual complementarity. Thus, the description of paradigms in Kornilova and Smirnov's textbook is complemented by the chapter 'The structure and components of knowledge' in Yurevich's personal interpretation, whereas his materials on research programme and school of thought are complemented by the analysis of the development of methodological principles and psychology as a science. The appearance of these books proves not only the reconstruction of psychology, and hence the extreme relevance of methodological issues, but also the evident progress in resolving these issues.