Seminar by Polina Guseva

On December 1, 2025, a seminar on "The Relationship between Values, Trust, and Civic Participation: A Moderation Analysis" was held at the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research.

Polina Dmitrievna Guseva , a third-year postgraduate student and research intern at the ILSIR, presented a draft of her candidate's dissertation, which she is working on under the supervision of  Maria Andreevna Kozlova , Doctor of Sociology and Chief Research Fellow at the ILSIR. The discussants were  Konstantin Nikolaevich Obukhov , PhD, Senior Research Fellow at the ISI International Laboratory, and  Roman Dmitrievich Karikh , Senior Research Fellow at the Gaidar Institute and Research intern at the ILSIR.

In her presentation, Polina Dmitrievna presented the theoretical and methodological foundations of a study examining the role of trust as a moderator in the relationship between values ​​(specifically, growth values ​​according to Schwartz) and various forms of civic participation. Preliminary results of the empirical analysis were presented.

During the discussion, seminar participants made a number of constructive comments. Konstantin Nikolaevich noted the need to strengthen the theoretical foundation, conceptually integrate the ideas of different authors, more clearly define institutionality, and consider the limitations associated with the small sample size and interpretation of statistical models. Roman Dmitrievich noted an imbalance in the theoretical overview and conceptual structure of the work. Laboratory Head  Elena Rostislavovna Yarskaya-Smirnova, Doctor of Sociology , drew attention to a number of problematic areas of the presented dissertation research: the appropriateness of the chosen specialty for defense with the empirical nature of the study and the need to consider socio-demographic characteristics in the analysis. The speaker agreed with the relevance of these comments and outlined ways to improve the study.