Question

According to Robert Emerson, what are "reactive effects" in ethnographic research and how should researchers deal with them?

Answer 1

In ethnography, the researcher tends to spend a lot of time with an ethnic group to study their norms, rules and obligations of their society. When a group of people know that an outsider is living with them and observing them, the human beings have a tendency to change their behaviors and act according to social desirability. These effects are known as reactive effects or the effects that a researcher or assessor unwillingly has on that which he or she is trying to study. The behavior change is ensued in each individual when they know that they are being studied. This is also at times, referred to as the observer’s paradox. This reactivity may be in terms of personal or procedural. Personal reactivity refers to the attitudes, expectations and behaviors of the researcher on the reactions of other people. Procedural reactivity is associated with the impact of research on the reactions of the subjects. Some of the examples of such a reactivity was seen in Hawthorne studies. The reactivity is always a threat to the internal validity of the research. The results obtained through such a study have limited generalizability.

Ethnographic researches in natural settings are not immune to such reactivity. Although the ethnographer may try his/her best to reduce these effects, still these are invincible. These can be minimized but cannot be overruled. Therefore, some subjectivity and reactivity is inherent in ethnographic studies.