Descriptive statistics and visualization of historical data on charitable institutions in Eastern Siberia in the 19th century.

Kattsina Tatyana Anatolievna ORCID: 0000-0001-6566-9678 Doctor of History Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology of Social Work, Siberian Federal University 660041, Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Krasnoyarsk, Svobodny Ave., 79 tkatsina@sfu-kras.ru Shestakov Viacheslav Nikolaevich ORCID: 0000-0001-7737-2900 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Modern Educational Technologies, Siberian Federal University 660041, Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Krasnoyarsk, Svobodny Ave., 79 shestakoffs@yahoo.com

Pomazan Valery Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0003-4690-0795 Senior Lecturer, Department of Modern Educational Technologies, Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny Ave., Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia vpomazan@sfu-kras.ru

Introduction

The study of the history of social assistance is marked by the formulation of a number of problems, including its regional development, and requires the expansion of the research source base, which largely determines the success of generalization and conclusions of the entire work.  

When studying the specifics of the formation and development of the public charity system in the provinces (Yenisei, Irkutsk) and regions (Transbaikal, Yakutsk) of Eastern Siberia, we systematized information on public charity and charitable institutions (craft houses, orphanages, night shelters, almshouses, etc.) into a database.

The electronic database ^[1] was designed and filled on the basis of a wide range of historical sources (their list included 42 names). The publication of a statistical nature "Charity in Russia" served as the main source with a high number of values of the categories of analysis under consideration ^[2]. Taking into account the availability of information about the object under study, "Commemorative books ..." of individual provinces and regions (in Eastern Siberia, their printing began in 1861 with the Irkutsk province), "Reviews ..." (in the editions of 1879-1897 – the subtitle "Appendix to the most comprehensive report") and "Statistical reviews ..." of provinces (regions), published by local statistical committees from 1870 to 1916 in the form of a separate part to the annual report of the governor. Significant information about charitable institutions (workhouses and craft houses) is gleaned from the works of the actual state councilor Yu.A. Gagemeister ^[3] and the first Yenisei governor A.P. Stepanov ^[4]. Reports and charters of charitable institutions, both published and extracted from the funds of the central (State Historical Archive) and regional archives of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk and Chita regions, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), were used in connection with the data of the main source. Chronicles ^{[5, 6, etc.]} are used as additional sources.

The comparison of sources to determine the reliability of information relating to the same issue made it possible to avoid mistakes, for example, when determining the date of the actual opening of a charitable institution.

Working with data diverse in composition and content, but not rigidly structured in form, we did not take all the material, but only the necessary one, that is, we introduced free text of sources of different types. Because of this, the database is already a new, aggregated source, the structure of which is not related to the structure of the source documents, and its value as an integral source lies in subordinating the content to a specific research task.

It should be noted that in recent years, the technology of databases and storage systems of historical documents is often used for research in the field of socio-economic history [7-11, etc.], and information technologies are increasingly being used in the creation of professional scientific and educational resources, in analytical work with the integrated use of not only statistical, but also textual, cartographic, visual, multimedia information, in the development of analytical tools for processing and analyzing historical documents, searching for relevant information ^[12-20].

Materials and methods

Let's consider the possibilities of using information technologies and descriptive statistics in solving a number of research tasks aimed at studying the history of social assistance in Eastern Siberia of the XIX century.

The data used is structured into a simple spreadsheet of the universal Microsoft Excel program with the number of rows (studied objects) – 94, the number of columns – 8 (object name, opening date, subordination, real estate and capital, capacity, contingent, specifics of services, source code). PostgreSQL, a free object–relational database management system, allows you to maintain the database in working order, archive information and create backups, modify it in accordance with newly arisen needs or changed conditions. Its integration with the popular PHP scripting language (Hypertext Preprocessor) made it possible to integrate the database into a network resource. The requested information is generated from the table automatically and displayed on the monitor screen. The "Administrator" mode allows you to add, change, delete and extract data.

Data processing (grouping, descriptive statistics) is implemented in the Microsoft Excel 2013 spreadsheet processor. Pivot tables and pivot charts are used as processing tools. Pivot tables are meta-tables relative to the source data table. They allow you to group homogeneous features of the studied objects, perform basic mathematical operations with quantitative features. For example, charitable institutions are grouped by type, the occurrence of each type is calculated. Pivot charts are a logical continuation of pivot tables, visualization of the results of grouping and calculations. By constructing, for example, a diagram of the number of institutions by type, you can get individual slices by province or see the overall picture for all provinces.

Additionally, a software package for statistical analysis Statistica 10.0 was used to check the distribution of data, calculate basic descriptive statistics (medians, quartiles, span).

Visual representation (graphs, diagrams, tables) of the most important information grouped by meaning is implemented in the form of a dashboard.

Descriptive statistics and data visualization

The authors structured the source database by highlighting the following data about each object: belonging to a province, district or city, the year of creation of a charitable institution, subordination, availability of own real estate and capital, capacity, description of the contingent, specifics of services, the cipher of the source.

In order to highlight more useful and suitable information for quantitative analysis, the database described above has been further analyzed. For grouping and counting, additional parameters of charitable institutions are allocated from the already available data. They were added as the text content of the main parameters was studied. A consistent study of the records of charitable institutions allowed us to detect patterns in the description of their capital and real estate, the contingent, and the specifics of services. 

The list of additional parameters: province; district; locality; type of settlement (city, village); the period to which the year of creation belongs (centuries are divided into quarters); type of institution (almshouse, lodging house, shelter, workhouse, canteen); general subordination; specified subordination; cost of real estate; capital; income; donations from individuals and organizations; donations from government and urban, rural institutions; annual maintenance; income from paid services; capacity – the number of seats; capacity – how many were kept.

As well as binary parameters characterized by the presence or absence of a feature: contingent – children; contingent – adults; contingent – female; contingent – male; contingent – orphans; contingent – elderly; contingent – sick; contingent – crippled; contingent – mentally ill; contingent – homeless; contingent – unable to work; contingent – poor; contingent – Orthodox; contingent – clergy; contingent – burghers; contingent – peasants; contingent – locals; contingent – migrants; contingent – exiles; specifics of services – free of charge; specifics of services – paid; specifics of services – earn by yourself; maintenance by alms; services – accommodation; services – food; services – money; services – training; services – care. Such a significant number of binary features is due to the fact that many of them are not mutually exclusive. For example, the contingent of a separate almshouse can be both female and male, poor, Orthodox, local and non-local residents.

Note that with the current volume of the database, not all signs have found a significant frequency of occurrence, which would allow us to draw generalizing conclusions. However, it is too early to consider them useless, additional sources can give low-frequency signs a new relevance.

Below is a frequency table of public charity and charitable institutions grouped by provinces and districts of Eastern Siberia (Table 1).

Table 1. Institutions of public charity and charitable nature grouped by provinces and districts of Eastern Siberia

According to the summary table, charitable institutions are represented by 94 records, which are grouped by provinces and regions: Yakut, Irkutsk, Trans-Baikal and Yenisei.  Charitable institutions of Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces form the basis of the database – 36 and 37 records, respectively. The administrative centers of these provinces contain the maximum values of the number of charitable institutions: Irkutsk – 21, Krasnoyarsk – 14. In the Trans–Baikal province, the separation of the number of charitable institutions of the administrative center from the district centers is not so pronounced: Chita is 4, given that the median for districts and cities is 2 charitable institutions, and the interquartile range (Qn –Qb) is from 1 to 5. It is noteworthy that all the institutions of the Yakut region are concentrated in its administrative center.

The dates of creation of charitable institutions fit in the period from 1799 to 1902 . The division of the XIX century into quarters made it possible through grouping to establish the most fruitful periods for charity with division by provinces.

The summary diagrams in Figs. 1 and 2 well illustrate the dynamics of the emergence of charitable institutions. 

Fig. 1. The total number of new charitable institutions with distribution by quarters of the XIX century.

 Fig. 2. The number of new charitable institutions with distribution by quarters of the XIX century in the context of provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia

The diagram in Fig. 2 shows a general increase in the number of charitable institutions from the first to the last quarter of the XIX century. The change is uneven. There is an increase in the number of charitable institutions in the second half of the XIX century (see Fig. 1).

Figure 3 shows the ratio of rural and urban care institutions for each administrative-territorial unit.

 Fig. 3. The number of charitable institutions with distribution by type of settlement in the context of provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia

In each of the provinces and regions, the ratio is in favor of the city, where there are more charitable institutions. As a percentage, the scale of the difference between the number of charitable institutions in the city and in the countryside in the provinces is 61%, taking into account 100% of the difference in the Yakut and 39% in the Yenisei.

Figures 4 and 5 show the structure of public charity and charitable institutions based on the type: canteen, workhouse, orphanage, night shelter, almshouse. 

 Fig. 4. The total number of institutions of public charity and charitable nature with distribution by type

Fig. 5. The number of charitable institutions with distribution by type in the context of provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia

Collectively, almshouses dominate in all provinces in terms of the number of new arrivals, with shelters in second place. In the Yenisei and Irkutsk provinces, this number is overwhelming, in the Trans-Baikal and Yakut provinces, everything is not so clear. There are not so many institutions in Yakutsk (6) and they are evenly distributed by type, in Zabaikalsky there are more (15), but the number of shelters is close to the number of almshouses. It is noteworthy that in the Trans–Baikal province there are the most workhouses (3), and in the Yenisei province there are flophouses (4).

Figure 6 shows the structure of the general departmental affiliation of charitable institutions. 

Fig. 6. Structure of departmental affiliation of charitable institutions

The majority of institutions (68%) are subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the Department of Orthodox Confession (VPI) – 12%, the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria (VUIM) – 8%, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – 6%, the Guardianship of the Houses of Diligence and Workhouses (PODTiRD) – only 2%. The remaining options are private and not systemic in nature.

Let us turn to the data on the number of people held in charitable and charitable institutions, divided by provinces, quarters of the XIX century. in the context of types of institutions (Table 2).

Table 2. The number of persons held in institutions of public charity and charitable nature

According to table 2, in the provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia, the total number of people held in charitable institutions was 1,471. Most of all in almshouses and orphanages, much less in workhouses and night shelters. It makes sense to consider the quantitative values presented in the table as indicative and incomplete. Their value lies in the ability to characterize the structure and dynamics of the volume of charitable assistance at least at the level of trends. Judging by the last column (total), from the first to the last quarter of the XIX century. there is a tendency to increase the number of people receiving places in charitable institutions. It should be borne in mind that these are newly appearing places, so it is more correct to count the number of places as a cumulative total (Table 3).

Table 3. The number of persons held in charitable and charitable institutions on an accrual basis

With this calculation, the volume of aid in each new quarter of the XIX century is shifted in a big way, and this is true. Irkutsk (673) and Yenisei (448) provinces are still in the leaders of aid.

The following table shows the structure of the contingent to which charitable assistance was provided. Numerical values for provinces indicate the number of mentions of a certain feature of the contingent. In total, 18 signs were identified: children, adults and homeless, sick, etc.

Table 4. Structure of the characteristics of the contingent of charitable institutions

For each province and region in the table, the signs that have gained more mentions in the descriptions of charitable institutions are highlighted in color. This approach suggests priority areas of assistance. In all four provinces, these are: adults, equally men and women, a little less elderly, less often children, local residents, less often crippled, blind and deaf. Some territories have their own priorities: in the Yenisei province – the poor, the Orthodox; in the Trans–Baikal region - the poor, in the Yakut region – the unable to work.

Table 5 shows the specifics of the services provided in charitable institutions: the form of services (paid, free or based on the provision of earnings), what the service contains (alms, accommodation, food, money, training, care).

Table 5. Specifics of services

In terms of the specifics of services, the provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia are quite synchronous. Priority options: free, much less paid. Most often, accommodation, food and less often training are provided.

Table 6 shows the signs of the revenue side of charitable institutions: who donated (individuals and organizations or government agencies); whether there is an annual maintenance and income from paid services.

Table 6. Income structure

Table 6 shows that private individuals and organizations are more often mentioned as donors than government agencies (42/26). But this advantage is created by the Yenisei province, in the other three administrative-territorial divisions of Eastern Siberia, the ratio seems to be parity. It should be noted that paid services make up an important part of the income of charitable institutions.

For clarity, the ability to systematically look at the database in a network resource and analyze it by setting up filters, a dashboard has been developed in Excel (Fig. 7-10).

 Fig. 7. Dashboard fragment, screen 1

 Fig. 8. Dashboard fragment, screen 2

Fig. 9. Dashboard fragment, screen 3

 Fig. 10. Dashboard fragment, data filtering buttons

A dashboard (a visual representation of the most important information grouped by meaning on one screen) consists of a set of diagrams and control buttons (slices) that control data filtering. Diagrams are available: the number of establishments by year (linear), the number of establishments by type (circular with a callout), the number of establishments by period (histogram), by type of settlement (linear), by district (linear), by subordination (circular), by donation structure (histogram), by mentioning the characteristics of the contingent (petal), according to the specifics of services (petal).

The following slices have been created for data filtering and dynamic data restructuring: the period of creation (by quarters of a century), the years of creation, the province, the district, the type of settlement and the general subordination.

Figure 11 shows the first dashboard screen with a set of filters: Yenisei province, rural type of settlement, general subordination of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Fig. 11. Dashboard with a set of filters, screen 1

With such settings, 14 objects (types of charitable institutions) were found in the database. All charts have changed their appearance according to the selected filters.

Conclusion

The database is intended for research in the field of social history, it is a set of indicators on the number, contingent, material base, specifics of services of public charity and charitable institutions. It contributes to the elimination of territorial and problematic imbalances in the study of the network of institutions of public charity and charitable nature in the Russian Empire, provides effective systematization of primary information, is an information product of multipurpose use. Visual representation of data by means of a dashboard makes it easier to perceive and analyze the information of a database created in a spreadsheet format, quickly assess the state and dynamics of the system of social assistance institutions in the provinces and regions of Eastern Siberia of the XIX century by several time slices.  

The use of a number of techniques of the method of descriptive statistics in the processing of materials collected in the database showed:

- most of all in the considered territories of charitable institutions in Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk;

- from the first to the last quarter of the XIX century, a general increase in the number of charitable institutions is noticeable, the growth of which accelerates by the end of the century;

- in each province , the ratio of the number of charitable institutions in the city and in the countryside in favor of the city;

- in total, almshouses dominate in all provinces in terms of the number of those who have appeared, orphanages are in second place;

- most places are in almshouses and orphanages, much less in workhouses and night shelters;

- the prevailing structure of the contingent: adults, equally men and women, slightly less elderly, less children, local residents, less often crippled, blind and deaf;

- priority options for the specifics of services: free of charge, accommodation, food and less often training.

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