Informan

Informan is the Indonesian term for informant, referring to a person who provides information to others such as investigators, researchers, or journalists. An informan may contribute knowledge about a community, a network, a crime, or an event that is not readily observable to outsiders. The term often implies some level of collaboration, which can be paid or voluntary, depending on the context and norms of the field.

In practice, informants appear in several domains. In journalism, informan are sources who share details for a news story. In law enforcement, informants supply tips about criminal activity or criminal networks. In social sciences and anthropology, informants (often called key informants) offer cultural, linguistic, or local insights essential for understanding a community. In market and organizational research, informan can provide consumer or insider perspectives that are otherwise hard to capture through surveys alone.

Reliability and ethics are central to using informan. Information from an informan may be influenced by incentives, memory limitations, or personal bias, so researchers seek corroboration from multiple sources. Ethical considerations include informed consent, protection of confidentiality, and minimizing potential harm to the informan. Some contexts also require careful handling of safety concerns, given possible retaliation or legal exposure for the informan.

In academic and professional writing, the term informan is often distinguished from more formal roles like “key informant” or “source,” to reflect varying levels of expertise, relationship, and purpose.