Methodological Problems of the Conceptual Framework Development for Innovation Studies in Forensic Science

The paper investigates the development issues associated with the conceptual framework of the innovation studies in forensic science as a new research area in forensic science. The author studies the methodological problems of developing and grouping categories and concepts of the subject matter. It is substantiated that the level of development and validity of any scientific theory, including the innovation studies in forensic science, is determined according to the degree and level of development of its theoretical and methodological principles and the framework of categories and concepts of this theory. In particular, this refers to such concepts as forensic innovation, innovative forensic product, their functions, classifications, stages of the innovation process, etc. The study analyses the scientific approaches to understanding the basic categories of the matter under consideration, which are innovative forensic product and forensic innovation. The author offers their definitions, describes essential features and properties, and analyses the correlation of these concepts. Furthermore, the author analyses the general and universal dialectical method of rising from the abstract to the concrete and from the concrete to the abstract, including their role in the development of the conceptual framework of innovation studies in forensic science. The study notes that the methodological framework for the development and implementation of innovative forensic products and the application of forensic innovations in law enforcement also includes activity-based, system-structural, and technological approaches, the use of which is promising both in the study of basic concepts of innovation studies in forensic science and in the development of this forensic theory. The author articulates proposals and individual insights in the solution of particular debating points associated with innovations in forensic science and law enforcement practice. The study substantiates that a comprehensive approach to the development of basic concepts and categories of innovation studies in forensic science constitutes a methodological foundation for further research on this subject, which determines the promising areas for the development of forensic scienc