The culture of professional communities is an independent object of research. The cultural portrait of the profession makes it possible to better understand and comprehend the mentality and mindset in the professional community; to reveal value preferences as another person of professional status and being. In the construction of a cultural portrait, an essential role is played by the justification and choice of research procedures. The text problematizes features of heuristic research procedures in the presence/absence of benchmarking. Research procedures are shown by examples based on research data for schoolteachers and principals.