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Showing posts from January, 2023

Etic vs. Emic - Is There a Preference for One Over the Other?

 In the area of research, whether linguistic, anthropological, or whatever, it is common to use the terms 'etic' and 'emic'. Here is a definition: 'The etic perspective is the outsider’s perspective, the perspective that we have of a project’s parameters—for example, an outsider’s perception of gender in Afghanistan. The emic perspective is the insider’s perspective, the perspective that comes from within the culture where the project is situated—for example, gender perspectives of women involved in a project in Afghanistan.' https://programs.online.american.edu/msme/masters-in-measurement-and-evaluation/resources/emic-and-etic accessed 13th January 2023 Another difference between etic and emic is that the former often assumes the use of a model, or theoretical basis for a study, whereas the latter, almost by definition, would avoid the use of models and theories. Emic involves the use of insider data without theory-based analysis. Any comments would be descri