The article argues for a new technology in teaching students of state and municipal management. The method is based on direct observation and description of management practices by students who lack any systematic research skills (the «naive observer» method). The authors ague that the use of this method allows to solve two types of problem at once: a pedagogical one and a scientific one. Students observe, and provide a description of, facts of the Russian provincial life without any interpretation whatsoever, which allows to obtain a picture of the social life that is closer to the reality than the one obtained by use of interpretational schemes of sociologists and journalists. It is only the latter picture that is currently used by the authorities as a basis for management decisions and for developing projects of social changes.