Информальное образование: результаты качественного исследования

The paper analyses an empirical research into the issues of informal education through reading. The subject of informal education solves the issue of organising their everyday life, including leisure. Accordingly, there appear a number of researcher questions about their need for knowledge, educational potential, knowledge selection, etc. The experiment was conducted in early 2018 and involved eight volunteers. They read a novel by G. Yakhina called “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” and filled in their reader’s diary. Then they were interviewed in a semi-standard manner. It was revealed that knowledge selection in the process of reading occurs according to the criteria that are universal to the education system: an interest in knowledge and the assessment of its “usefulness”. However, interest as a criterion of knowledge selection is dominant over the assessment of knowledge “usefulness”. Several reading strategies were identified. The issue of trust to knowledge that was acquired in everyday life is considered separately. The knowledge that is contained in literary and artistic publications was confirmed to enjoy a large extent of trust. The assessment of the research methods reduces itself to the fact that a reader’s diary cannot be used as a self-contained method. The epistemological abilities of this method are limited, in the first place, by the absence of feedback. A diary makes it possible to record new knowledge and impressions from the subject’s perspective, which is necessary but not enough. Feedback is provided by the semi-standard interview, allowing the researcher to specify particular diary entries, and enables the interpretation of the produced results.