Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

Analysis and synthesis

Analysis (in Greek it means dissolving, separating) is a research methodology, in which the object of study is divided into its integral parts. Then each of these component parts is studied separately. This provides additional information about the object of study. For example, through the use of analysis the structure of the object, its integral parts and the relationship among them are determined.

As induction is the inverse of deduction, analysis is the inverse of synthesis. If analysis presupposes the theoretical disintegration of the integral parts of the object of study, synthesis (in Greek it means combining, uniting) presupposes the integration of the integral parts in one whole. Synthesis functions as the continuation of analysis.

This method is used in the study of many premises of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism. For example, while studying the policy of multiculturalism in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the basic elements (directions) of this policy are determined first, each element is examined separately and their interrelations are determined. Then by using the methodology of synthesis the information obtained about the integral parts of the policy of multiculturalism in the Republic of Azerbaijan are put together and comprehensive knowledge about this policy is obtained.

Abstraction

Abstraction (in Latin abstractio means removal, putting aside) is the methodology of mentally abstracting a number of elements

from the object of study. As a rule, the elements that are mentally abstracted or removed from the object are secondary, unimportant elements. In the process of understanding, the researcher can easily get closer to the essence of the object when it is free from the unimportant indicators that do not reflect its essence.

Abstraction is closely connected with the methodology of analysis. To be more specific, the abstraction is a continuation of analysis. So, before subjecting an object to analysis the features of the object should be identified from the point of view of whether or not they reflect the object’s essence.

These features allow for the wide use of the methodology of abstraction in Azerbaijani Multiculturalism. For example, anti-Semitism (enmity against the Jewish people, their culture and religion) has been seen in many countries, even in some Western ones recently. The application of the abstraction method to determine indicators of the absence of anti-Semitism in Azerbaijan takes into account that Jews have not historically been persecuted in Azerbaijan; they have enjoyed religious freedom, the right to publish their own newspapers and magazines and to be educated in their own language. It is not necessary to take into account other indicators (their living discretely in various parts of the country, their activity in political parties, their employment in different spheres of the economy, etc.). These indicators are separated out by using the abstraction method, as they do not tell us anything about the existence of anti-­Semitism in Azerbaijan.