1. Methodology Within the framework of the project sociological research and legal analysis were conducted. The main goal of the research was to discover the issues, challenges and needs facing TUs in Armenia. During the course of the research, the objectives were to determine: • Which main changes had taken place in the Armenian TU system, • Which main directions and working styles of current TU activities were applied, • How visible and active TUs were and in which spheres, • How and how effective TUs were in defending employees’ interests, • Which main factors were promoting the effective functioning of TUs, • Which main factors were hindering the effective functioning of TUs. As a result of the research, specific recommendations on what Armenian TUs need today for their effective functioning were developed. Description of information collection methodology The research was conducted in two main directions: 1. Legal analysis, 2. Sociological research. 1. Within the framework of legal analysis, a content analysis of documents was carried out. The following documents were the object of analysis: • The RA Law on Trade Unions, • The RA Labor Code, • The RA Law on Making Changes and Amendments to the RA Labor Code. The foundation for the legal analysis was the main issues raised during the sociological research by respondents. 2. The sociological research was implemented through the qualitative method. An in-depth interviewing method 1 was applied with the involvement of all sides 2 related to the research objective. The method enabled the research to reveal details of daily activities, both strong and weak internal aspects of TUs, as well as specific features of social and political environment which were somehow related(promoting or hindering) to TUs. During the interviews, a number of cases related to the infringement of employees’ rights and their defense were discussed, which though an inductive analysis presented a ground for conclusions. In-depth interviews were conducted with two main groups: 1 In-depth interviews are face-to-face interviews conducted in the form of free conversations with open-ended questions for which in-advance developed questionnaire blocks are available, and specific questions are formulated on the spot according to the circumstances. (Rubin H.J., Rubin I.S., Qualitative interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. SAGE Publication, Inc., 1995). 2 The selection of respondents will be presented subsequently. 11