Emic and etic are terms used by some in the social sciences and the behavioral sciences to refer to two different kinds of data concerning human behavior. An "emic" account of behavior is a description of behavior in terms meaningful (consciously or unconsciously) to the actor, the insider view. An "etic" account is a description of a behavior in terms familiar to the observer, the outsider view. Scientists interested in the local construction of meaning, and local rules for behavior, will rely on emic accounts; scientists interested in facilitating comparative research and making universal claims will rely on etic accounts.

The terms were first introduced by the linguist Kenneth Pike, who argued that the tools linguists had developed for describing linguistic behaviors could be adapted to the description of any human social behavior. Emic and etic are derived from the linguistic terms phonemic and phonetic respectively.

The terms were also championed by Marvin Harris with slightly different definitions. Factions within anthropology have presented the two variations as a debate between Pike and Harris although Pike and Harris emphasized that they only used the terms differently and there was no debate.

Musicologist and semiologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990: 61) describes an "'etic' approach" as "an analysis accomplished only by means of the methodological tools and categories of the researcher" and an "'emic' approach" as "an analysis that reflects the viewpoint of the native informants."

Source

• Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0691027145.