What is the thinking and logic behind nonreactive methods

What is the thinking and logic behind nonreactive methods, and why are they important to criminal justice and crime studies? Nonreactive research methods are a way of collecting data in such a way that the person/persons being studied do not know they are being studied. There are three major types of nonreactive method ( field research, secondary analysis, and content analysis). Using these research methods, subjects can be studied through the following: homicide rates, physical trace analysis, artifacts statistics from existing criminology, use of existing records and simple and disguised observation (Kraska & Neuman, 2011). The logic and thinking are that by collecting existing information or covertly observing an event avoids the problem of data being corrupted by reactive research effects. This thinking is similar to The Hawthorne Effect that was discussed in chapter 7. The Hawthorne Effect describes how a research participant can change their behavior because of their role as a research participant. If an unnatural change in behavior occurs, researchers are no longer measuring a natural reaction to what is being studied. Researchers therefore cannot contend that it was the study components alone that influenced the behavior of the study participants.