Emic/Etic Distinction

An emic perspective is the insider's view of reality. It is one of the principal concepts guiding qualitative research. An emic perspective is fundamental to understanding how people perceive the world around them. Qualitative researchers often begin by asking people open-ended questions about how things work from their perspective. This allows an individual to frame the concept, idea, or situation and then elaborate on it. This provides a more accurate depiction of the individual's “mental map” or cultural understanding. This can be followed up with more fine-grained questions for additional depth and questionnaires to help determine how representative the viewpoint is in the culture. An emic perspective is grounded in a phenomenological view of the universe in comparison with an a priori set of assumptions about what people think and why they act the way they do. Adopting an emic perspective allows for “multiple” realities depending on the role and/or perspective of the individual in the community. An individual's view of the world might not conform with “objective” reality. However, there are real-world consequences for people's perceptions of reality, shaping how they behave in social situations ranging from their families to communities-at-large. Moreover, the validity of an emic construct is based on the native informant's or community member's views, not on the external social scientist's views. Emic perceptions are shared views of cultural knowledge from the insider's “normative” perspective.

An etic perspective is the external social scientific perspective on reality. The validity of etic descriptions or analyses is based on logical scientific analysis. Etic descriptions or analyses conform with rules of science, including falsifiability, logical consistency, and replicability (when possible and appropriate). Most qualitative researchers start collecting data from the emic or insider's perspective and then try to make sense of what they have collected in terms of both the native's view and their own scientific analysis. An external view without an emic or external foundation is unusual and is uncharacteristic of qualitative work. The etic perspective is typically adopted after multiple, and often conflicting, emic or insider views are collected. The etic view involves stepping back from the insider's views in an attempt to explain how groups are communicating or miscommunicating. Etic knowledge is the foundation of most cross-cultural work, often referred to as ethnology.