Emic and etic

Emic and etic are two ways of looking at something. Emic looks at something from the inside, while etic looks at something from the outside.

Imagine you want to learn about how people feel when they go to school. To do this, you could do an emic study, where you ask people what they think, feel and believe about going to school. This is looking at the situation from the inside, like you are part of the group.

On the other hand, you could do an etic study, where you look at the situation from the outside. This would involve looking at data about school attendance and learning outcomes, and using that to draw conclusions about how people feel about going to school. This is looking at the situation from the outside, like you are not part of the group.