Note Previous Page Social Distance
The ability to remain detached...The technical term for this social distance is objectivity - the ability to remain detached, aloof or personally separate from the people you are researching.

There are a couple of important dimensions to objectivity (namely, personal and methodological) but for the moment we can consider it as involving the ability to avoid:

  • The intrusion of our personal beliefs (or values) into the research process.
  • Influencing the way respondents reply to our questions or behaviour.