Reactivity
There is a quirky and charming Norwegian film from 2003 entitled Kitchen Stories. The story follows an employee of the fictitious Swedish Home Research Institute. The researchers are interested in designing more efficient kitchens. Having studied Swedish housewives, the researchers are now studying Norwegian bachelor farmers. Before dawn, the researcher (Forke) takes up his observation position, perched on a high chair in the corner of the kitchen. Over the course of the day, he records each time his observee (Isak) enters the kitchen, and makes detailed notes of each action — such as reaching for the salt shaker. Forke and Isak are under strict instructions not to converse or otherwise interact with each other. As you can imagine, the film’s dry humor derives from the ridiculousness of the situation.
An important question in any observation is how the presence of the observer changes the behavior of the observed. This is the problem of reactivity. A situation is said to have high reactivity when the observer has a major influence on the behavior of the observed. In the film Kitchen Stories, Isak begins eating his meals outside of the kitchen so that he is no longer under constant surveillance by Forke.
An example of high reactivity in music research can be found in the work of ethnomusicologist Marc Perlman. In the process of learning Indonesian music, Perlman continually pestered his master teachers with “why” questions. His teachers were quite aware of the Western tradition of “music theorizing.” They were also aware that many traditional Indonesian musical practices were done with little in the way of theoretical justification or explanation. Possibly under the influence of Western ideas, Perlman’s teachers also viewed “theory” as a desireable and prestigious intellectual enterprise. Over the decades, Perlman observed and chronicled the emergence of a “music theory” among a handful of respected musicians in Indonesia. Moreover, Perlman was aware that the development of these explanatory frameworks was, at least in part, a response to the very questions posed by ethnomusicologists (including himself) about the meaning, reasons, or explanations for various Indonesian practices. The sorts of questions asked by ethnomusicologists are likely to have been a formative impetus for the development of Indonesian music theory. In his award-winning book, Perlman (2004) documents the emergence of music theorizing in Indonesia.
Hawthorne Effect
Reactivity effects can be remarkably subtle yet important. A classic example is the famous Hawthorne Effect. The Hawthorne Effect is named after a manufacturing plant owned by Western Electric. In the 1920s and 1930s Western Electric was interested in the effect of workplace changes on productivity. Over the course of five years, they tried many changes: improving the lighting, rearranging furniture or equipment, improving cleanliness, etc. Each time, they observed an increased productivity (which fell back to normal after a month or so). As a control, they also changed the workplaces back to their original conditions — reducing the lighting, reducing cleanliness, replacing the furniture, etc. With each change, however, they observed the same increase in productivity for a short period. That is, reducing the lighting was as good as improving the lighting in terms of productivity increase. It turned out that the workers were simply reacting to the fact that they were being observed by a seemingly interested, even sympathetic, management. The workers were reacting principally to the attention of their bosses, rather than reacting to the specific changes made in their workplaces.
Historical Reactivity
Reactivity can also be present over long stretches of history. A young historican, for example, might spend time carefully examining the diary of a recently deceased composer. Surely, we might think, the observations made by a modern historian have no effect on what a dead composer wrote! Unfortunately, things are not so simple. Diaries are often written with a future audience in mind. When a living composer today writes in a journal or diary, he or she may very well have one eye on the future and how future scholars may view his or her actions, thoughts and emotions. Diaries are not documents that simply report facts. Diaries are shaped, at least in part, by how the writer wants to be remembered. Even when writing nominally private notes, a person may still imagine the presence of an unseen observer — looking over his or her shoulder.
This does not mean that the effects of reactivity cannot be minimized. A historian might find important clues in shopping lists, tax returns, wills, and other documents that a historical figure might never have imagined would be examined. At the moment, people are largely unaware of the volume of personal data being collected about them from their activities on the Internet. In the future, it is quite likely that these records will become available to historians. When this happens, public figures are apt to become far more circumspect about their behaviors on the Internet. That is, their behaviors will be shaped, at least in part, by how they want to be portrayed. A common reactivity problem in interviews and surveys arises when an interviewee is especially eager to be perceived as helpful.
In a later discussion, we’ll consider reactivity problems in more detail. We’ll consider eight techniques for minimizing or controlling their effects.
References
Marc Perlman (2004). Unplayed Melodies: Javanese Gamelan and the Genesis of Music Theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.