The concept "altruism" for sociological research: from conceptualization to operationalization

This article addresses the question of the relevant conceptualization of «altruism» in Russian from the perspective sociological research operationalization. It investigates the spheres of social application of the word «altruism», include Russian equivalent «vzaimopomoshh`» (mutual help). The data for the study comes from Russian National Corpus (Russian). The theoretical framework consists of Paul F. Lazarsfeld`s Theory of Sociological Research Methodology and the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Quantitative analysis shows features in the representation of altruism in Russian that sociologists need to know in the preparation of questionnaires, interview guides and analysis of transcripts.